Museo di Santa Giulia

Brescia’s Museum of Santa Giulia occupies the former Lombard monastery of San Salvatore, founded in 753. Its archaeological remains, churches, cloisters and collections present the city’s history from antiquity through the early modern period within a UNESCO-listed complex.

Why it matters

The monastery of San Salvatore, founded by the Lombard king Desiderius in 753, is part of the UNESCO World Heritage property ‘The Longobards in Italy: Places of the Power’. The museum brings together around 12,000 works with Roman houses, a Lombard basilica, a Romanesque oratory and later monastic spaces, allowing the history of Brescia and the architecture of the complex to be read together.

What to notice

The Basilica of San Salvatore preserves its Lombard structure, including reused Roman columns and a crypt. The Coro delle Monache combines Renaissance funerary sculpture with frescoes by Floriano Ferramola and Paolo da Caylina il Giovane. Santa Maria in Solario, a Romanesque oratory, once held the monastery treasury, including the Lipsanoteca and the Croce di Desiderio. The Domus dell’Ortaglia preserves Roman houses with mosaics, frescoes and underfloor heating. The Vittoria Alata is associated with the museum’s history but is displayed in the nearby Capitolium.

Context and history

Desiderius founded the monastery in 753, and Benedictine nuns developed the complex over subsequent centuries, adding the choir, oratory and Renaissance cloisters. The museum was established in 1998 as the Museo della Città. In 2011 UNESCO recognized the San Salvatore–Santa Giulia complex together with Brescia’s Roman archaeological area as part of the Longobard sites in Italy. The museum is administered by Fondazione Brescia Musei.