Diocesan Museum

The story

The museum opened on 25 June 2013, after a wait of almost seventy years, in the rooms of the former Diocesan Seminary, between the Archbishop's Palace and the Cathedral. It brings together works from the Duomo and from churches across the diocese: silverware, vestments, wooden statuettes and paintings, among them Luca Giordano's Immaculate Conception and canvases by Andrea Vaccaro and Giuseppe Pascaletti. One room is given over to objects commissioned by Cosenza's archbishops over the centuries.

The most important piece is the stauroteca, a reliquary cross of embossed gold, "vermicelli" filigree, enamel and rock crystal over a wooden core, which the museum dates to the 12th century. The Ministry's catalogue places it in the Byzantine sphere, with scholars divided between the 11th and 12th centuries. Tradition holds that Frederick II gave it on the occasion of the cathedral's consecration, on 30 January 1222.

What to look for

In the semicircular hall, look at the side showing the crucified Christ, flanked in circular medallions by the Virgin and John the Baptist, with Greek inscriptions. Look closely at the gold worked in relief and at the fine gold strips that hold the enamels in place.