Estense Lapidary Museum, Modena

Located in the quadriportico on the ground floor of the eighteenth-century Albergo delle Arti, now the Palazzo dei Musei, the Museo Lapidario Estense was established in 1828 by Francesco IV d’Austria-Este. In this location, the epigraphic and historical-artistic testimonies of the city and the ducal territory were brought together to create the first city museum with educational and enhancement purposes. To this end, works from the Estense collections attracted further donations and acquisitions.
The most important core of the Lapidario Estense is represented by the imposing sarcophagi from the Roman imperial age transferred from the courtyard of the Cathedral Canons, where they had been lying since the end of the seventeenth century, and which still constitute the largest series of artifacts of this kind in all of Emilia Romagna. The important Roman section is seamlessly complemented by the monuments of the medieval and Renaissance section, which document the reuse of ancient sarcophagi and the subsequent revivals and imitations. This last section documents illustrious Modenese personalities also belonging to a more recent history.