The Museum of Ecclesiastical Heritage of the Diocese of Rieti, with its exhibition path winding through the environments of the Cathedral and the ancient Palace of the Popes, allows us to learn about, beyond purely ecclesiastical fields, the heritage of history, art, and faith of the city gathered over the centuries.
The liturgical objects, statues, paintings, and vestments document the ways and styles with which the will of catechesis of the ecclesiastics, the skill of local artists, and popular religiosity have been expressed.
The exhibition path unfolds in inherently suggestive environments, which bear striking traces of architectural and artistic skill of past centuries: from the Cathedral Treasury, which for over thirty years has been housed in the ancient Baptistery where the pictorial and sculptural memories of the Renaissance dominate, the visitor crosses the upper basilica, with its imposing Romanesque structure and interiors that bear eloquent traces of the Tridentine age, then descends to the lower basilica and accesses the sacristies and the Lapidarium that maintain intact the medieval evocations.
From here, crossing the cloister that leads to the 13th-century Palace of the Popes, one accesses the art gallery, set up in the audience hall of the papal curia, a rightful pride of the architect Andrea magister for its harmonious proportions and the vastness of the spaces.
Visit details info:
The complex of the Cathedral Treasury, the Museum, and the Diocesan Art Gallery can be visited on the days of:
Saturday 4:00 PM/6:00 PM; Sunday 10:00 AM/12:00 PM / 4:00 PM/6:00 PM
