Salerno Diocesan Museum

The Diocesan Museum is undoubtedly the most important container of works of art of Salerno. The present location is not the original one but it corresponds to the restoration of the structure of the Diocesan Seminary, which, with the Library and Archives, is a major cultural center of the city and the province.

The current configuration of the building corresponds to the work contracted out in 1832 by Archbishop Lupoli. Following this restoration work, the complex has a strictly neoclassical physiognomy with symmetrical development built around the central axis of the door, on which stands keystone marble coat of arms of the prelate, and of the balcony above, framed by a newsstand that echoes a classical temple.

The artistic heritage of the Museum includes works that are from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. There you can find:

1. The ivories of Salerno: the largest and most complete collection of stained glass tablets (first half of the XII century.) of Christian Middle Ages in the world. These are 67 pieces, 37 of which are illustrated with scenes from the Old and New Testament;
2. An illuminated roll of the Exultet, divided into 11 parchment sheets illustrating the Easter Proclamation (praeconium paschale, proclamation of Easter), dating from the end of the first half of the thirteenth century;
3. A painted cross (called of the Barliario), of the beginning of eighteenth century;
4. Paintings by Caravaggio school donated by the Marquis Giovanni Ruggi of Aragon in 1870 to the Cathedral of Salerno. These are mostly works of the seventeenth century. The main work is the Judith unknown, the David with the Head of Goliath always an unknown, St. Jerome and St. Peter who cries for failing to recognize the Teacher and the painting of the biblical subject Lot and his daughters.
5. In light access corridors to the rooms has been placed part of the collection of coins of Ancient Greece, the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire and the Zecca of Salerno. Among the thousands of coins is to point out the famous Follaro of Gisulfo II with the depiction of Opulent Salernu.
6. In addition to the works exhibited, the museum has paintings, mostly of wood and canvas, dating from the fourteenth to the twentieth century. Worth noting is also a Pontifical ad usum Ecclesiae Salernitanae. Do not miss precious Codes (eleventh century), also illuminated, scrolls... Enrich the collection works of gold, a lapidary and some archaeological finds of Roman and from early Middle Ages.