The expedition against Almeria and Tortosa of 1147-1148 turns out to be extremely expensive for the Genoese, enough to cause a serious financial crisis. As early as 1149, a reconciliation with the Islamic kingdoms of the western Mediterranean was sought, in particular with the Emir Abu-Abd-Allah Muhammad ibn Said ben Mardanish, called King Wolf in Latin sources. In 1188, Ambassador Nicola Leccanozze signed a twenty-year agreement with a strong commercial content with Abd-Allah, son and successor of King Wolf. Faced with the commitment not to damage the sovereign's lands, not to lend assistance to his enemies and to defend his subjects by land and sea, the Genoese obtain the promise of protection of the territories under their jurisdiction, exemption from customs duties, the protection of ships even in the case of a shipwreck, the concession wherever they wanted of a warehouse, an oven, access to a bathroom once a week and a church for the celebration of their rituals. The privileges of 1181 and 1188 preserved in the Genoa State Archives are the only ones left among those issued from the Banū Gāniya dynasty. The Arabic text is interlined by the Latin translation and thus testifies the meeting of the two diplomacies in the varied cultural panorama of the medieval Mediterranean.

Since 1146 we have news of a registrum Comunis, in which were transcribed the most important documents for the administration, politics and trade of Genoa. The existence of a corpus of documentation of major interest for the Municipality of Genoa is already testified by a consular award in 1146. In a subsequent period, the drafting of other collections is attested, such as the corpus of documentation relating to foreign relations carried out in 1229 thanks to the Bolognese Chief Magistrate Iacopo Baldovini, a jurist. A copy of these oldest compilations, now lost, was made starting from 1253 with the Vetustior register; the drafting of the 9 codes of the Libri Iurium continued until the 17th century. The volumes are large and of particular value, demonstrating the importance that is attached to the collection. Duplicatum, together with Liber A, now preserved by the University Library of Genoa, represents the richest collection. This page transcribes the inscription in gold letters that the Genoese had placed in 1105 on the architrave of the altar of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, listing the privileges received in the Holy Land after the first crusade. 

The register of Giovanni Scriba is not only the oldest existing notarial register, but also the oldest paper code in Western Europe. It represents the testimony of the activities and daily life of the inhabitants of a merchant city, Genoa, which was opening up more and more to the Mediterranean. Not by chance, some loose sheets attached are of Arabic manufacture and bear a text perhaps written by the Egyptian chancellery, according to the hypothesis of Michele Amari. The manuscript opens the long series of notaries, which counts 7 cartularies from the 12th century, 150 from the 13th century registers, 420 from the 14th century and over a thousand from the 15th century files, for a total of 1630 notarial archival units of the medieval period.
 

In 1921 Anton Giulio Bragaglia commissioned Virgilio Marchi to build the new headquarters of his House of Art with an adjoining theatre, by recovering the ancient baths attributed to Septimius Severus in Avignonesi street in Rome. "... the game of the vaults, launched in bizarre clashes on the pillars and arches of these so different and amazing basilicas, effortlessly reminded me of the escapes and whims of Futurist architecture" (A. G. Bragaglia). In the sketch you can see what Bragaglia called "a graceful balcony of eighteenth-century taste". “The stage was built in opening sections. Above the stage, the latticework of the attic room was kept over the eighth meter high, with the shots to perfection. The fragments of the scenes came out from the side and under the stage. The dressing rooms were obtained in ancient tunnels on the left. The room, including the circular balcony, had two hundred seats and many standing. " (A. G. Bragaglia). “The Bragaglia theater is so new to be new; there is nothing to say. Consider that, if the ancient theater was outdoors, it is underground; and that, if the former was concerned with ensuring the visibility of the stage for all spectators, this is designed so that the stage can be seen from almost nowhere in the hall. I attended the first issue of the program - Hedge in the north-west, comedy and music by Massimo Bontempelli - from the gallery, in a strategic point that had been recommended to me as a position that offers a good view. Because the underground hall is occupied, in the center, by a huge pylon, which prohibits the spectators on the right from looking to the left, those on the left from looking to the right. As for those in the gallery, I will say that by combining the effects of the sinuosity of the balcony with the presence of the inexorable pylon, they can be satisfied if they can see certain areas of the scene. But that doesn't hurt; on the contrary, it increases surprises, stimulates curiosity, gives a sense of the unpredictable and conquered to what one manages to grasp" (Silvio d’Amico).

In the photograph, the costume for Medea by Ernest Legouvé designed by the painter Ary Scheffer, around 1856. The "Fondo Ristori" includes fifteen complete costumes and also: thirty pieces of clothing (scarves, veils, skirts, corsets, caps, etc.), six fans, twenty pairs of shoes, stage jewels. It is a complex that allows us to evaluate the 'historical' habits of the nineteenth century and in one of its greatest expressions. Some of them - such as Marie Antoinette's costume, made by the greatest tailor of the time, the Parisian Worth, inventor of the crinoline - were made outside Italy, in Paris and London. Medea's costume was designed by the painter Ary Scheffer, considered the leader of the Dutch romantics; those for Elisabetta by Delphine Baron, fashion designer of the Paris Opera House. Adelaide Ristori (1822-1906), daughter of poor actors, appeared on the scene around the 1940s, when the conditions of the Italian dramatic actor were among the poorest in Europe. After a first experience in the Royal Sardinian Company and subsequently with others, from 1853 to 1856 she returned to the Royal Sardinian as the absolute first actress with a fabulous writing. In the meantime she married the Marquis Giuliano Capranica del Grillo (son of Bartolomeo and Princess Flaminia Odescalchi), far from fasting theatrical enterprises: the Capranica family then owned two Roman theaters: the Capranica and the Valle. Giuliano will in fact become the oculate administrator and 'manager' of Adelaide, the first (and perhaps only?) "Actress-marquise" in history. In 1855 the Ristori, already famous in her homeland, obtained the Parisian consecration and began (first among the Italians after the Commedia dell’Arte season) an international career, exploiting her notoriety also because of the Italian Risorgimento. After Paris it is the turn of Berlin, Vienna, London, Madrid. In 1860 she made her first tour in Russia. In 1866 she crossed the Atlantic and went to the United States (the President of the United States received her in his private apartment in the White House as the greatest contemporary actress); in 1869 in South America; in April 1874 she even begins a world tour that would end in January 1876, touching cities never visited by any Italian Drama Company.

In the photograph by Pasquale De Antonis a scene from The Mistress of the Inn by Carlo Goldoni, Teatro Eliseo, Rome 1952, directed by Luchino Visconti. Among the materials preserved in the MBA, a place of honor goes to photography. In fact, the archive contains about 69,000 documents, including positives and negatives, made by some of the most important Italian and foreign photographic establishments, from the origins of photography to the contemporary. This rich heritage stands out not only for its quantity but also for its quality. In fact, it is not difficult to come across famous signatures starting from Nadar, Disderi, Sarony, Alinari, NunesVais and Bragaglia. There are photographs of theatrical subjects in almost all archive funds, starting with the oldest, among which stand out the nineteenth-century ones by Adelaide Ristori (1822-1906), Ernesto Rossi (1827-1896) and Tommaso Salvini (1829-1915) up to those of more recent acquisition. Images of theatrical subjects, posed portraits or stage photos, are present, in fact, among the personal papers, among others, by the artists Elsa Albani (1921-2004), Ferruccio De Ceresa (1922-1993), Lilla Brignone (1913- 1984), Giorgio De Lullo (1921-1981), Romolo Valli (1925-1980), Alessandro Fersen (1911-2001), Gilberto Govi (1885-1966), Alberto Lionello (1930-1994), Sabatino Lopez (1867-1951), Virgilio Marchi (1895-1960), Ruggero Ruggeri (1871-1953), Guido Salvini (1893-1965), Sergio Tofano (1886-1973), Ermete Zacconi (1857-1948). Furthermore, the fonds of two photographers are preserved: Gastone Bosio (1909-1987) and Pasquale De Antonis (1908-2001), acquired respectively in 1978 and 1998. In the Bosio collection there are 56,850 negatives and relative specimens, which document the roman theatrical scene from the Second World War. The photographs are arranged in chronological order and grouped into four types: Current affairs, Magazine theater, Cinema and Prose theater. The 2,373 photographs from the De Antonis collection, donated to the Museum by the Province of Genoa and the Politeama Genovese, make up the theatrical part of the photographer's entire archive. They are images relating to shows staged in the most important Roman theaters between 1946 and 1965 and portray some of the most famous actors of the time as well as the main productions of Luchino Visconti's directions.

The statue reproduces the giant gorilla King Kong, protagonist of the second remake,
directed by Peter Jackson, of the film released in 1933 (the first adaptation dates back
to 1976, directed by John Guillermin). The 2005 movie was shot in New Zealand
with a budget of 207 million dollars, a record at the time. It grossed over 550 million.
The film was very well received by public and critics: such that it wins three Oscars
(best sound editing, best sound mixing and best special effects).

Curiosity: At the time of “King Kong” filming Bryan Singer, the director of “The
Usual Suspects”, was in Australia for the shooting of “Superman Returns”. As a
friend of Peter Jackson, he decided to spend a weekend on the set of King Kong.
Singer, as a personal favour to his friend, decided to direct the fight sequence
between King Kong and the V-Rex. Jackson later thanked him in the credits.

In the photograph, a page from the letter written by Gabriele D'Annunzio to Guido Salvini in 1936. The letter is kept in the MBA archive which now has over seventy collections largely notified by the Liguria Archives Superintendency as being of particular historical interest. There are more than 72,000 autographs, 69,000 photographs, 1,300 scripts, 4,000 drawings, including stage sketches, figurines and caricatures, about 62,000 press cuttings, administrative and other documentation. The archive documents the history of Italian theater starting from the nineteenth-century sources of Adelaide Ristori, Tommaso Salvini and Ernesto Rossi up to the days. The list of funds can be consulted on the page of the institutional website https://www.museoattore.it/attivita/ archive.

The specialized library has over 45,000 volumes, mostly dedicated to the history of theater, cinema and entertainment in its all forms, 10,000 theater programs and 1360 titles from Italian and foreign sector magazines. Over the years, the personal libraries of Tommaso Salvini, Cesare Vico Lodovici, Sabatino Lopez, Silvio d'Amico, Paolo Stoppa, Alba Maria Setaccioli, Lilla Brignone, Corrado Pavolini, Roberto Chiti, Guido Ceronetti, Elsa de 'Giorgi, Alessandro Fersen, the Salvini family and many other personalities have joined the MBA. All the bibliographic material is catalogued on SBN (National Library System) and can be searched online on opac.sbn.it.

Painted on canvas, by Alessandro Duse, 1888. Eleonora Duse, nicknamed the divine, is considered the greatest theater actress of her time and one of the greatest of all time. The painting that belonged to Orio Vergani was donated by his sons, Guido and Leonardo, in 1991 to the Theater Museum and Library. On the back of the canvas is written "A. Duse made 88”.