Musei Civici di Pavia

Pavia’s Civic Museums occupy the Visconti Castle and bring together collections spanning archaeology, medieval and Renaissance art, painting, sculpture and the city’s modern history.

Why it matters

Installed in the castle after the Second World War, the civic collections trace Pavia’s history through archaeology, Longobard material, medieval and Renaissance art, the Pinacoteca Malaspina, the Risorgimento Museum and the Robecchi Bricchetti Museum. A room devoted to the Battle of Pavia recalls the clash of 24 February 1525 between the forces of Charles V and Francis I, fought in the castle park.

What to notice

The sculpture galleries include works ranging from the Romanesque to the Renaissance. The second-floor modern sculpture and plaster-cast collection contains more than 200 works, mainly from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Battle of Pavia room includes prints, paintings and multimedia installations developed in 2015; a tapestry depicting the battle, now held at Capodimonte, was shown in Pavia in connection with that exhibition. The Civica Scuola di Pittura room opened in 2016, and the museum also holds the Chiolini photographic archive, acquired in 2009.

Context and history

The civic collections grew from nineteenth-century collecting and were installed in the Visconti Castle after the Second World War. Galeazzo Visconti built the castle between 1360 and 1365. The museum’s varied collections place Roman inscriptions, Renaissance painting, Risorgimento history and African exploration photography associated with Robecchi Bricchetti within the same complex. Restoration work has continued to renew both the galleries and the historic building.