Museo del Duomo

The Museo del Duomo stores the cathedral's memory in the Royal Palace beside it: original statues removed from the spires, stained glass, colossal models, tapestries and the treasury of the Metropolitan Chapter. The collection helps interpret the cathedral, where many sculptures and windows have been replaced by copies to protect the originals.

Why it matters

Milan Cathedral has been under construction for over six hundred years, and weather, war and pollution have forced the replacement of its sculptures and glass. The originals, withdrawn from the monument, found a home here, revealing marble colour, chisel marks and details that are difficult to discern in their architectural settings. The operator describes the museum as originating from the cathedral itself, constantly referring back to it, and the arrangement continually relates the collection to the cathedral. It also documents the Fabbrica del Duomo, the institution that has run the building site continuously since the Middle Ages and still does.

What to notice

The collection begins with the Treasure of the Metropolitan Chapter, liturgical objects owned by the cathedral's clergy, and unfolds the building's biography through six centuries. Three important groups are the original statuary withdrawn from the facade and spires, stained-glass cartoons and windows that show how the cathedral's glazed surfaces were designed, and architectural models and plaster casts, including large wooden models that guided builders across generations. Paintings and tapestries complete the sequence up to the twentieth century.

Context and history

Although it narrates six hundred years, the museum is young by Milanese standards. It has occupied rooms on the ground floor of the Royal Palace, facing the piazza, since its first opening in 1953 with an installation by Ugo Nebbia; a second arrangement was curated by Ernesto Brivio in 1974; and the current layout, designed by Guido Canali, dates from its reopening in 2013. The collections grew principally through the work of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo in replacing artworks damaged or lost, particularly after the destructions of the war years, so nearly every object on display is a documented original rescued from the monument. The museum is part of the cathedral complex managed by the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo.