Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (MODO)

Orvieto's Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, or MODO, preserves the working memory of the Fabbrica that raised the cathedral from 1290 onward. Its collections include construction records, decoration removed during restorations and the sinopie—red-earth underdrawings made for the fresco cycles of the Chapel of the Corporal.

Why it matters

The Opera del Duomo, also called the Fabbriceria, is the autonomous body responsible for safeguarding and promoting Orvieto's cathedral. The first stone was laid on 13 November 1290 in the presence of Pope Nicholas IV. MODO preserves records and objects that show how the cathedral was built, decorated and maintained across the centuries. The collection includes documents about the construction, carved and painted material detached during restorations, and the sinopie prepared for the Chapel of the Corporal's frescoes.

What to notice

The Sala delle Sinopie displays full-scale underdrawings once covered by the fresco plaster of the Chapel of the Corporal. The museum's holdings also include panels and sculpture removed from the cathedral over the years. The building itself is part of the story: the galleries occupy halls in the papal palace complex, where ceilings, windows and wall phases reflect the site's changing history. A fourteenth-century Maestà that once faced visitors on the cathedral facade is among the works associated with the palace display rooms.

Context and history

The museum is housed in Palazzo Soliano, the southernmost wing of the papal palace range on Piazza del Duomo. The Commune of Orvieto began the palace in 1297 at the urging of Pope Boniface VIII. After Boniface's death in 1303, work stalled; in 1321 the Opera del Duomo took over the building to house the cathedral's workers. Partial rebuilding followed in the 1540s with funding from Paul III, and Ippolito Scalza worked on the palace between 1564 and 1570. Paolo Zampi's restoration of 1887–98 gave it its present staircase and crenellations and created a home for the Opera's collections. The ground floor houses the Museo Emilio Greco, dedicated to the sculptor of the cathedral's bronze doors. The Opera's museum collections have been displayed in different buildings over time, including the old Opera building, the papal palace halls and Palazzo Soliano.