FABULOUS MUSEUM QUALITY 18TH OR 19TH CENTURY ITALIAN MARBLE BUST OF MICHELANGELO

I purchased this wonderful museum quality bust of Michelangelo in the city of Manchester in the United Kingdom. The antiques dealer I bought it from told me that the bust had come out of the Gorton Monastery in Gorton, Manchester, after it had been sold to a developer in 1989. It was originally sculpted in Italy and brought to the monastery sometime in the mid-to-late 1800's.

It is in wonderful original condition and measures approximately 30" high by 26" wide by 12" deep.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS ITEM IS EXTREMELY HEAVY. I ESTIMATE THAT IT WEIGHS BETWEEN 200 AND 250 POUNDS. FOR THIS REASON, THE BUYER WILL NEED TO ARRANGE FOR HIS OWN PICK-UP, PACKAGING, AND SHIPPING. I AM HAPPY TO ASSIST ANY WAY I CAN ON MY END TO GET THE ITEM SHIPPED SAFELY.

About Gorton Monastery:

The Church and Friary of St Francis, known locally as Gorton Monastery, is a Grade II listed former Franciscan friary. in Gorton, Manchester, England. It was designed by the noted Victorian architect Edward Welby Pugin and built between 1866 and 1872. Gorton Monastery is a noted example of Gothic Revival architecture.

In 1861 the then Bishop of Salford, Herbert Vaughan, invited a Belgian community of Recollects, a branch of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor, to come to Manchester and found a new church. The Franciscans arrived in Gorton in December 1861 and began work on a new friary. The construction lasted from 1863 to 1867, and most of the building work was done by the friars themselves, with a brother acting as clerk of works.

The noted architect Edward Welby Pugin (1834–1875) was appointed to design the new monastery church. Pugin was the son of the celebrated architect Augustus Pugin, who championed the revival of Gothic as the style of architecture which was the ideal expression of Catholic faith and worship in church buildings. Edward Welby Pugin had designed two other large Catholic churches in Manchester, St. Ann's, Stretford (1863) and All Saints' Church, Urmston (1868). The foundation stone for the Gorton Monastery church was laid in 1866 and it was completed and consecrated in 1872.

The monastery closed for worship in 1989. The building was sold to a property developer, who stripped the monastery of its furnishings and fittings, including mahogany pews, oak doors and sculptures. A pipe organ built by the Wadsworth Brothers of Manchester was sold for scrap. The property developer subsequently went bankrupt and the scheme to convert the monastery into flats was abandoned. The monastery lay empty and derelict for many years and suffered from vandalism and looting. 

In 1997, Gorton Monastery was placed on the World Monuments Fund Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites in the World alongside Pompeii, the Taj Mahal, and the Valley of the Kings. 

The building ceased to be used for Christian worship in 1989 and fell derelict for many years. After a restoration programme, it reopened as a secular events venue in 2007.