The museum, adjacent to the cathedral, houses not only an important collection of canvases and icons, but also extremely significant pieces such as the precious Byzantine stauroteca (reliquary of the cross) in gilded silver and enamels, an ancient nautical chart, miniatures, manuscripts, sacred vestments, and silver liturgical objects.
Established on 29 June 2002 in the premises of the former bishop's seminary founded by Bishop Giuseppe Cavalieri in 1668, the diocesan museum opens its doors to the public with a tour extended by the Laboratory for the Analysis and Restoration of Paintings.

The surviving artistic testimonies reflect the sedimentation and the political and cultural changes that have taken place over the centuries, from the 'Byzantine' past, witnessed among other things by the icon of the Madonna of the Madia, which, according to legend, came from the sea on a bed of beams, to the Swabian and Angevin periods, to relations with Aragonese Naples, to the strong ties, including administrative ones, that bound it to Venice for at least two centuries, to the cultural debt to the Viceroyalty and then the Neapolitan Kingdom.

All this is told, albeit in fragments and with inevitable gaps, by the works on display in the new diocesan museum. The works on display, from various Churches in the Diocese of Monopoli, invite us on a grand journey to rediscover Christian culture over the centuries. The silver and cloisonné enamel stauroteca, the wooden polyptych signed by Campsa and Di Malines, icons, St Jerome by Bastiani or canvases by the painters Veronese, Palma the Younger, Vecellio, Finoglio, Fracanzano, Miglionico, Lama, a rare charta navigationis, miniatures by Reginaldo da Pirano, and parchment liturgical codices are only a few of the pieces that make up the composite mosaic of wonders kept in this museum and offered for the public's gaze.

Free guided tours (you only pay the entrance fee) conducted by the museum's educational staff are available by appointment.

Public opening hours:
Monday | closed
Tuesday to Sunday | 10 am - 12:30 am / 4:30 pm - 9:30 pm

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CREDITS: Comune di Monopoli.