Cittadella's new Cathedral Museum opens its doors: here's what it looks like

In Cittadella (Padua), the Cathedral Museum reopens May 22 with totally renovated rooms. The museum, which is located next to the cathedral and also incorporates what remains of the former medieval church with its frescoes, is being inaugurated after a long journey and various excerpts of work that have seen in the past the contribution of MiBACT, and in this last phase the fundamental contribution of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo and the Municipality of Cittadella.

The idea of establishing a museum of sacred art was born between 1985 and 1986 when a group of volunteers, coordinated by Giuseppe Streliotto, proposed to the then archpriest Monsignor Antonio Miazzi to recover, restore and exhibit to the public the numerous historical and artistic goods deposited and shelved in various storerooms since time immemorial. The initiative with cultural purposes aimed to give substance to the guidelines expressed on the matter by the Second Vatican Council. The undertaking attracted a conspicuous number of volunteers who freely, generously and enthusiastically carved out the premises from unused spaces. First, the four floors of the bell tower were restored and cleaned, which from being destitute as they were became rooms embellished by the presence of the works on display and suggestive for the view they offer, from unusual openings, over the landscape of the walled city. In the bell tower and adjacent rooms, which were adapted and transformed, found a place for the paintings, sculptures, altars and other objects used in liturgical rites that were gradually being recovered, cleaned and restored with contributions from donors and sponsors. Immediately it was seen the need to expand the museum with the recovery and restoration of additional rooms, equipped with an elevator, services and devices required by the regulations on agibility and public safety that had been enacted in the meantime, to give placement to the works that had been found and deposited in the storerooms.

The restoration of the buildings was entrusted in 2002 to Studio Architetti Veneti under the responsibility of architect Carlo Compostella and continued thereafter under the direction of architect Annabianca Compostella. The first phase of work began in 2003 and was completed in 2010; the second final phase of work began in 2015 and was completed in 2020. The layout was entrusted to the studio of architect Gianni Toffanello, who, in agreement with the Diocesan Office for Cultural Heritage and the Diocesan Museum of Padua, selected some of the works collected along the previous decades, placing them in a path of art, history and theology. The curators’ choice was to privilege quality over quantity, in order to offer paintings and sculptures, but also examples of applied arts, that are indeed “exceptional” in level or significance, starting with the grandiose Supper at Emmaus, a masterpiece dated 1537 by Jacopo da Ponte known as Bassano, and the Flagellation (late 16th century) of particular intensity formerly attributed to Palma il Giovane but more likely attributable to Andrea Vicentino. Not to mention the large tempera on panel depicting the Lamentation over the Dead Christ, a masterpiece of mid-15th-century Venetian painting, attributed by Federico Zeri to Andrea da Murano.

Again, from the ancient abbey church comes the St. Anthony Abbot (15th century) in Vicenza stone with traces of the original ancient polychromy. It is a work of solid expressive power, recalling the centuries in which Cittadella arose, a medieval walled city among the most beautiful in the world, which had and has the church at the center of the ellipse of its high walls (which today can be walked along the nearly two kilometers of the Camminamento di Ronda). The present church is neoclassical, but the original one has not disappeared and preserves architecture and, above all, precious frescoes from the medieval age: a 13th-century Madonna and Child with Saint Margaret, a 14th-century Crucifixion with a Giottesque flavor, the monumental Samson and Goliath, and what remains of a cycle frescoed by Jacopo Bassano between 1537 and 1539. Testimonies of art and history that are part of the museum itinerary offered to visitors in the adjoining spaces open for worship.

In the Museum’s halls, among other outstanding “pieces” are the wooden sculptures, all from the late medieval or Renaissance period: the polychrome bust of an Annunciation Virgin, the mystical fifteenth-century processional Crucifix, also in carved and polychrome wood, and the sixteenth-century St. Roch and St. Sebastian. Applied arts specimens include the very rare Parato in terzo, embellished with fine embroidery (16th century); the 15th-century reliquary by Bartolomeo da Bologna; the Processional Standard dedicated to St. Jerome; and the majestic Apparatus for the Forty Hours, in carved and gilded wood, which dominates one of the rooms of the new Museum.

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n addition to the artistic-cultural route, the layout of the new Diocesan Museum offers three possible routes, spiritual and religious. The first is entitled The route of the saints: upon entering the museum, one finds oneself in the presence of an ancient statue of St. Anthony Abbot, the first of the saints that accompany the itinerary of faith and testifies to a very ancient veneration of a figure rooted in rural tradition. Continuing on, one comes across representations of Saints Prosdocimo and Donato, patron saints of Cittadella, St. Jerome translating Holy Scripture, St. Philip Neri, and others. Two wooden statues depicting St. Rocco and St. Sebastian are placed at the end of the path. The image of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus and Queen of all saints, is not missing. The second is titled The Passion, Death and Resurrection Trail: it is the account of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. In the first room of the museum, the dark colors of the great Flagellation introduce the mystery of Jesus’ suffering, experienced in the darkest night. In contrast, the brighter colors of Andrea da Murano’s deposition, displayed in the Don Luigi Rossi room, give the feeling of suffering mitigated by faith; it is as if Mary already carries with her the light of resurrection. Finally, the warm colors of the Supper in Emmaus gently accompany toward the paschal mystery of the risen Jesus who reveals himself in the breaking of the bread and continues to be present among his disciples, of yesterday and today. Finally, the third is The Liturgy: the Supper in Emmaus, which unveils the mystery of the Risen Christ, helps to reread the whole journey in a full and conscious way.

“Two stories intertwine in these rooms,” emphasizes Monsignor Luca Moretti, archpriest of the Cathedral. “An ancient one, which starts in 1220 and tells of beautiful and important works of art. A more recent one, made up of passion and volunteerism, which has restored light and splendor to ancient history. Those who visit the museum can somehow get in touch with these two stories. With those who have been fortunate enough to build, beautify, adorn, and care for our church. And with those who have inherited a perhaps less fascinating, but no less important task: to preserve and pass on what is beautiful and precious they have received. I believe this is the task of our time.”

The museum can be visited on Saturdays from 3 to 5 p.m., Sundays and holidays from 10 a.m. to noon and 3 to 5 p.m., other days by reservation only, for groups of at least 10 people. Admission: 5 euros full price, 3 euros reduced (for Residents in the Municipality of Cittadella with presentation of valid ID, Over 65s with presentation of ID card, Children aged 4 to 17, University students up to 26 with presentation of university badge, Groups minimum 10 people with advance phone reservation, Visitors showing theentrance to the Citadel Walls), Free for handicapped persons with certification Children 0 to 3 years old, Presbyters, with exhibition of celebret, Journalists on duty with exhibition of identification badge. For visitors who show their Cathedral Museum ticket, admission to the Citadel Walls will be reduced.

Image: Jacopo da Ponte, Supper at Emmaus (1537; oil on canvas, 235 x 250 cm; Cittadella, Museo del Duomo)

Cittadella's new Cathedral Museum opens its doors: here's what it looks like

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