Ragusa Cathedral Museum

The cathedral museum is a reality, an institution that had been missing for a long time: its location is extremely optimal, being right in the historic center (on Corso Italia just a few steps from the first church of the Diocese, inside one of the city’s most elegant and sumptuous buildings, built in 1923 in eighteenth-century architectural style). Established by the episcopal decree of Monsignor Angelo Rizzo on November 7, 1998, it preserves and exhibits sacred furnishings and worship objects of fine craftsmanship: there are seven exhibition rooms that house reliquaries of saints venerated in the Ragusa area, a large number of goldsmith works, episcopal jewels, vestments, liturgical texts, and wooden statues resulting from popular devotion. The rooms are arranged chronologically: the first is dedicated to the period before the earthquake of January 11, 1693, exhibiting the ivory and inlaid wood reliquary chest of Saint George, a Venetian work of the 14th century, a sacred scripture by St. Augustine dated Lyon 1493, and a marvelous corporal bag from 1500. Moving to the second room, one is amazed by the worship objects of Saint John the Baptist, including the holy ark dated 1731. The third and fourth rooms are dedicated to the custody of altar furnishings; unusually beautiful are the 14 canvases of the Way of the Cross from 1775, the work of Stefano Ragazzi, recently restored, which illustrate the poignant story of Christ’s Passion. In the fifth room, one moves to the neoclassical period with sacred vestments made of fine silk embroidered in gold and silver dated 18th and 19th century. The sixth room is entirely dedicated to the worship of the Madonna: crowns for statues, paintings, and a precious late nineteenth-century processional banner belonging to the Confraternity of the Most Holy Heart of the Madonna of the Medal can be admired. In the last room, the seventh, there are sacred objects from the 1950s made following the erection of the Diocese of Ragusa on May 6, 1950, including rings, episcopal crosses, and the precious silk mitre embroidered in gold of the 19th century. In short, a structure well worth being enjoyed by the people, the citizens of Ragusa, and all who visit our city; it represents a pride for the local community and for the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in particular, which in 2002 was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, thus becoming a heritage of humanity. The museum was visited by Bishop Monsignor Paolo Urso accompanied by the Cathedral’s parish priest Father Carmelo Tidona, and he was impressed by the new structure: “Now it would be nice to be able to host a restoration school on the upper floor of the palace,” hoped the Shepherd of the diocese.