Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Paintings
Milwaukee is a melting pot of neighborhoods. Each has a community center, whether it takes the form of park, building, or residence. In Milwaukee’s Italian community, they created a church to act as the heart of their neighborhood. Known to all as the “little pink church”, Our Lady of Pompeii served as the hub for all religious and community activity throughout the Italian community. Built in 1904 and painted pink, the church was decorated with the finest statuary and artwork that Italian craftsmanship could provide. Among the religious décor were a series of twelve murals, each painted on canvas and fit into the plasterwork on the Pompeii’s ceiling.
Each mural depicts a religious event celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church. While most depict the Holy Family, others glorify the role that patron saints played in the denomination’s early history. When the church was torn down in 1967 to make way for freeway expansion, the murals and other religious artifacts were in danger of being lost, and along with it their significance to one of Milwaukee’s largest ethnic groups.
It was the foresight of one man, Mario A. Carini, who rescued the murals from auction and stored them for safekeeping. In 2007, he donated them to the Historical Society and over the past three years, a conservation campaign has been underway to restore them to their former glory. Of the twelve, two have been conserved, the Ascension of the Madonna and the Coronation of Mary in Heaven. Future efforts to restore the others are underway so that the memory of the “little pink church” will not be forgotten.
