Il Museo del Duomo preserves a notable artistic heritage linked to the historical events of the Duomo and the figure of S. Gemignano, protector of the city, and is composed of various paintings representative of the Emilian painting school between the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as a rich series of furnishings and liturgical apparatus. In the Lapidary are housed reliefs, sculptures, and inscriptions from the Roman, medieval, and Renaissance periods recovered during maintenance and restoration work on the Duomo building in the 19th and 20th centuries or removed from their original location, or discovered during excavation interventions.
The visit begins with five paintings depicting the apparitions of Christ painted by Bernardino Cervi in 1621 for the destroyed Chapel of the Resurrection and a rich 17th-century silver altar furnishing, composed of a cross and six candlesticks, used as the equipment of the main altar during solemnities. Dedicated to San Geminiano, the second room houses a large 14th-century embossed copper image depicting the patron of Modena and the liturgical furnishings that hagiographic tradition attributes to the Saint, such as the portable Romanesque altar and the 16th-century pastoral staff. The display is completed by the rich equipment of the Saint’s altar located in the crypt (candlesticks, palm holders, silver lamps) donated to the Cathedral by the Modenese Community and made in 1833.
The third and fourth rooms are dedicated to the Cathedral’s treasury, consisting of liturgical vestments, altar silverware, and reliquaries. The tapestry room contains pieces with the Stories of Genesis woven in Brussels around 1560-70. At the end of the visit, the permanent exhibition of manuscripts displays the precious rarities of the attached Chapter Archive in rotation.
The Lapidary collection is dominated by the “metopes” of the Duomo in terms of importance and aesthetic quality, a magnificent series of eight large Romanesque sculptures characterized by unusual images of monstrous and fantastic beings. The work of a follower of Wiligelmo, they were originally located on the ends of the arches of the central nave. It also includes Roman marble variously reused during the cathedral’s construction, stone fragments from the buildings preceding the current duomo, the Ark of San Geminiano, some Romanesque reliefs and sculptures produced in the large workshop directed by Wiligelmo, and other works by the Campione Masters.
Information about the Duomo Museums of Modena
Via Lanfranco, 6,
41121 Modena (Modena)
0594396969
archiviocapitolaremo@basilicametropolitana.191.it
Source: MIBACT
