Diocesan Museum - Piazza Duomo, 12 - Vicenza
(Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
The Diocesan Museum of Vicenza is located in Piazza Duomo, in the historic city centre, inside the bishop's palace dating back to the end of the 12th century.
The Diocesan Museum in Vicenza
The heritage of the diocese of the city of Vicenza went on display starting in 2005. The itinerary is divided into five sections which tell the evolution and history of Christianity in the city.
On the first floor, an exhaustive pictorial section sheds light on the Renaissance, Baroque and eighteenth-century periods of the city of Vicenza.
Sections of the Diocesan Museum of Vicenza
- From early Christianity to the 13th century: the itinerary is opened by the three archaeological sections which focus on the period of the appearance of Christianity in the city. This is followed by the remains of liturgical furnishings from the early medieval period and a large basin from the Roman age used as a public fountain, early medieval sculptures and frescoes from the fourteenth century.
- The manuscript tradition: it houses a part of the collection of writings conserved in the Chapter Archive of the Vicenza cathedral. Among them are lectionaries, graduals, antiphonaries, troparia, sacramentaries.
- Painting from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century: on the first floor of the Diocesan Museum there are paintings signed by the major artists active in the Vicenza area over four centuries.
- Goldsmith's art: the best examples of religious goldsmith's art produced in the area between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries are on display in the beautiful Loggia Zeno (1494). The most important pieces are those that belonged to the Treasury of the Cathedral of Vicenza.
- Ethnographic Collection Msgr. G. Pietro Nonis: collects artifacts and finds collected by Monsignor Nonis during his travels in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. Among them statues, religious icons, masks, fabrics.
Main works of the Diocesan Museum
From early Christianity to the fourteenth century
- Side of a sarcophagus with the Adoration of the Magi (late 4th century)
- the fragment of a sarcophagus with a monogrammatic cross and the sarcophagus with acroteria of Bebius Eusebius (5th century)
- Ambo with staircase (8th century)
- Roman age basin with function of public fountain
- Three semi-capitals of the Romanesque cathedral (late 11th - early 12th century)
- Cope of parrots: donated in 1259 by Louis IX of France to Blessed Bartolomeo da Breganze
The manuscript tradition
- Atlantic Bible (1252)
Painting
- Wooden panel of Bernardino of Siena (early 16th century) by Lorenzo Lotto
- Wooden crucifix (15th century)
- Conversion of Saint Paul by Gian Battista Zelotti
- Miraculous Fishing (1562) by Gian Battista Zelotti
- Prayer in the garden of Gerolamo da Ponte
- Last Supper by Francesco Maffei
- Adoration of the Magi by Giulio Carpioni
- Saint Apollonia by Giovanni Antonio De Pieri
- Samaritan Woman at the Well by Giovanni Antonio De Pieri
Goldsmithing
- Reliquary of the Holy Thorn: preserves a thorn from Christ's hamster. It was donated by Louis IX
of France to Blessed Bartolomeo da Breganze (1259)
- Madonna with Child (1363-1386)
- Processional cross from the Da Sesto workshop
Useful information for visiting the Diocesan Museum of Vicenza
Hours: from Tuesday to Sunday from 14.00 to 18.00. Closed on Mondays, January 1st, Easter, the week of August, Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Phone: +39.0444.226400.
Web: Museo
Diocesano |
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