ATLANTE ORIENTALE
Explorers in the Himalaya and Karakoram between the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries in the Collections of the Museo Nazionale della Montagna
Curated by Roberto Mantovani
An Italian story of exploration, discovery, and scientific research intertwined with the expeditions of adventurers, geographers, and mountaineers from around the world—primarily from Great Britain—drawn by the mysteries of the Himalayan region. It is a remarkable story, best known for its more recent chapters, yet rooted in a long and largely hidden history.
This is the subject of Eastern Atlas, the new exhibition at the Mountain Museum, running from 12 June 2026 to 10 January 2027, which brings to light a fundamental chapter in Italy’s presence in the Karakoram and Himalaya.
Curated by mountaineering historian and journalist Roberto Mantovani, the exhibition is the result of extensive research conducted in the Museum’s archives and in the documentation preserved by the National Library of the Italian Alpine Club (CAI). These collections reveal testimonies, photographs, objects, maps, books, and original documents that reconstruct more than half a century of Italian exploration in Asia. The exhibition traces the presence of Italian travelers, scholars, photographers, and mountaineers from the late nineteenth century through to the historic Italian national expedition to K2 in 1954, placing their achievements within the broader international context of geographical and mountaineering exploration.
Through original materials from the Museum and the CAI Library, Eastern Atlas recounts not only the conquest of mountains and unknown territories, but also the creation of a body of geographical, scientific, and cultural knowledge that helped redefine Europe’s relationship with the great mountain ranges of Asia.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by the Mountain Museum, featuring an in-depth curatorial essay on the history of exploration in Asia, as well as a contribution by anthropologist Marco Aime examining the sociological and environmental implications of trekking and mountaineering in Nepal’s Khumbu region from the 1950s to the present day. The volume is enriched by an extensive collection of images and documentary materials that complement and enhance the exhibition’s themes and research.
