Museo Diocesano di Gubbio

Why it matters

The Diocesan Museum of Gubbio is housed in the late-medieval Palace of the Canons, between the cathedral and the Ducal Palace. Its collections bring together works associated with churches across the diocese, including paintings, liturgical textiles, goldsmith work, stone sculpture and Greek ceramics. The building's chapter house and refectory are also part of its historical fabric.

What to notice

The chapter room is among the palace's oldest spaces. The thirteenth-century refectory preserves a stone pulpit and a Crucifixion fresco attributed to the Maestro della Croce di Gubbio. The picture collection includes a Madonna in Maestà by Mello da Gubbio, Taddeo di Bartolo's Santa Chiara, works associated with Ottaviano Nelli and an Assunta of 1527 by Timoteo Viti with Giuliano Presutti. The treasury includes a fifteenth-century cope associated with Marcello Cervini, Bishop of Gubbio and later Pope Marcellus II, while an archaeological collection includes kylikes signed by the potters Taleide and Fraix. The Botte dei Canonici, a large early-fifteenth-century wooden wine barrel, is assembled without metal parts.

Context and history

The Palace of the Canons developed with the cathedral chapter. Construction began around the end of the twelfth century and continued into the thirteenth; the complex was enlarged during the following two centuries. The diocesan museum presents the religious and artistic history of the territory through objects accumulated in the churches and institutions of Gubbio.