La Chiesa di Santa Maria della Steccata has been the official seat of the Knights of the Constantinian Order of Saint George since 1718. This glorious order traces its very ancient origins to the militia that Emperor Constantine created to defend the labarum bearing the cross after the victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge (312). From the imposing building, guardian of Parmigianino’s work “The Wise Virgins and the Foolish Virgins,” visitors can access other areas that house the Constantinian Museum. The visit path allows admiring the Burial Place of the Bourbon and Farnese Dukes, established by the will of Maria Luigia in 1823; the Noble Sacristy, a seventeenth-century masterpiece of cabinetry preserving very precious silverware and exceptionally embroidered sacred vestments; the picture gallery rich with paintings dating from the 16th to 18th centuries; and a room dedicated to objects and memories belonging to the Bourbon and Farnese families with various rarities: from sketches for the uniforms of the Constantinian Knights to the shirt of Louis XVI worn at the scaffold, along with several coats of arms, watercolors, decorations, and historical memories.
Information about the Constantinian Order of Saint George Museum
Piazza della Steccata,
43121 Parma (Parma)
0521 282 854,0521 234 937
Source: MIBACT
