The museum is located in San Rufino square, in the northeastern part of Assisi; since the 2nd century BC, the area of the upper terrace whose south facade, made up of a travertine ashlar wall, is visible inside the cathedral and the crypt of San Rufino. Along the wall, near the bell tower, there is a square cistern. The museum is organized within the crypt of San Rufino and then continues in the medieval cloister and in the cellars of the adjacent Canons’ palace. In the cathedral area, remains of a ceramic production center from the 1st century BC have been identified. The museum was reorganized in 2006. The collection, founded in 1941 by the will of Bishop Giuseppe Placido Nicolini, includes works belonging to the cathedral or coming from the oratories of Assisi’s confraternities and suppressed parishes, divided into five sections: detached frescoes, paintings on wood and canvas, sacred vestments and liturgical objects, goldsmithing, stone materials from Roman and medieval times. Among the works stand out the frescoes by the Master of Santa Clara, Pace di Bartolo, and Puccio Capanna. From the oratory of San Rufinuccio, the latter depict episodes of the Passion of Jesus. Dating from 1334, they are inspired by the pictorial cycles of the Basilica of San Francesco, especially the frescoes by Pietro Lorenzetti, from whom Puccio Capanna derives the composition of the flagellation. Also very interesting are the processional banners, including the one from the Confraternity of Santa Catalina of Alexandria with the Martyrdom of Santa Catalina of Alexandria and Saints James and Anthony Abbot, unanimously attributed to the Pisan Orazio Riminaldi, dated around 1625. Furthermore, the museum preserves a polyptych by Niccolò di Liberatore called “the Student” and paintings by Matteo da Gualdo, Dono Doni, and Cesare Sermei. An important part is occupied by the collection donated through the testamentary legacy of the American art critic Frederick Mason Perkins, who died in 1955 and was very connected to the city of Assisi, which mainly includes works from the 14th and 15th centuries of the Tuscan school. Among the artists present are Jacopo della Quercia, Filippo Lippi, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, and Duccio di Buoninsegna.
Information about the Diocesan Museum and Crypt of San Rufino
Piazza San Rufino, 3
06081 Assisi (Perugia)
075812712
info@assisimuseodiocesano.com
https://www.museiecclesiastici.it
Source: MIBACT
