Museo della Sacrestia del Duomo

The Museum of the Treasury of the Cathedral of Casale Monferrato, known as the Sacrestia Aperta, preserves objects connected with the cathedral's history in its sacristy rooms and adjoining spaces. The route was extended in 2021 with the eighteenth-century chapter hall.

Why it matters

The museum helps explain the cathedral of Sant'Evasio through objects connected with its history, including medieval sculpture, mosaic fragments and liturgical silver. Opened in November 2003, it was extended in September 2021 with the eighteenth-century chapter hall.

What to notice

The Deambulatorio contains sculptures from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries and sections of the twelfth-century mosaic pavement from the Romanesque cathedral. The collection also includes the Cross of Teodoro Paleologo, donated in 1466, and episcopal silverware. The chapter hall, added to the museum in 2021, is decorated with neoclassical stuccoes by Giovanni Battista Bernero; an upper walkway reveals the cathedral structure above the vaults.

Context and history

Casale Monferrato's cathedral stands on a site of continuous worship said to go back to the first church founded by Saint Evasio, and the museum narrates that long story in objects. The medieval mosaic pavement and Romanesque and Gothic sculpture survived the cathedral's later rebuildings precisely because they were lifted out and stored; showing them again became the museum's founding idea in 2003. The dedication of the collection to both Sant'Evasio and his early co-patron San Lorenzo reflects the tradition that the first church on the site was dedicated to Lorenzo. Over the following two decades the route expanded room by room, and the 2021 opening of the Sala Capitolare, built for the cathedral chapter from 1785, connected the treasury to the chapter's own millennium of history. The museum's activities are supported by the Antipodes volunteer association.