Until a few years ago the cathedral's treasures
had been displayed in the spaces next to the Duomo (
vs31/32)
which were unsuited to house such a remarkable collection and so
a worthier home was found in the old Bishop's palace (
vs11)in
these rooms liturgical cloths, gold objects and furnishings are
displayed alongside the surviving architecture and the archeological
artifacts that document the ancient Roman city of Pistoia. The display
cases used to exhibit the objects allow not only their good conservation
but also the chance to continue to use these pieces for special
religious occasions. The entrance to the museum leads the visitor
into the ancient tower where a Roman funerary urn and several fragments
of paving, dating from the fifth or sixth centuries, prove the existence
here, even in High Medieval times, of a building for worship. Continuing
on into the new sacristy built in the late fourteenth century and
originally used as a room for hearings -we find a Crucifixion scene
painted by Giovanni Cristiani (
vs40/41).
on the western wall. Pieces of particularly interesting fourteenth
century gold work are also shown here, for example the reliquary
of San Zeno, the chance and cross of Sant'Atto. From the new sacristy
we move cm to the old one which once housed the treasure of San
Jacopo, famous not only for its richness but also for Dante's reference
to its theft by Vanni Fucci. Among the precious gifts offered to
the city's patron saint there is the reliquary (
vi), a famous
masterpiece by Lorenzo Ghiberti and his workshop. On the second
floor of the building, we find the rooms used to exhibit liturgical
objects. In the third room, the seat of the bishop's chancellery,
a fire broke out in 1641, destroying most of the objects. Passing
through the Duomo's gallery where the bishop could attend religious
services without going down into the cathedral, we come to the chapel
of San Niccolò (
vs11).
This unusual construction type is decorated with a rare fresco cycle
of Stories of Saint Nicholas as well as with a Crucifixion from
the end of the thirteenth century (
vs15).
Precious furnishings are displayed in the other rooms of the second
floor and among these there Is the reliquary of Saint Bartholomew
that Cardinal Giulio Rospigliosi (
vs47)
commissioned for the relics donated to Pistoia by Pope Alessandro
VII. Finally the itinerary brings us back to the lower floor which
from the fourteenth century on, used to house merchants' shops.
Organized according to the latest museum standards, the Cathedral
Museum is a place to visit to deepen one's knowledge of the city's
remarkable historical and artistic heritage.
(n.) refers to the number of the file-card (s.i.) means see information
inside
