In 1872 Giovanni Cherubini (1805-1882), an architect from Brescia, built the public slaughterhouse on the site of the ancient Sant'Antonio church (XIV century). The building, no longer serving as a slaughterhouse since 1973, was restored at the beginning of the eighties by the architect Adolfo Poltronieri. It hosts now various cultural insitutions. The centre is dedicated to the literature and art scholar Gino Baratta, who created the «Modern culture group» in Mantua in 1956, whose purpose was the interpretation of contemporary literary and artistic trends. This new complex belongs to the net of cultural facilities in Mantua, putting at its inhabitants' disposal a wide range of books and materials about contemporary culture.