The National Museum of Ravenna ( Italian: Museo nazionale di Ravenna ) is a state museum with artifacts from different eras, mainly from the history of Ravenna. Located in a former Benedictine monastery on Via San Vitale, next to the Basilica of San Vitale .
Opened in 1804 under the name Museo Classense Municipale; the modern name since 1885. The basis of the museum’s collections was church utensils and artifacts from the Ravenna monasteries dissolved during the “Napoleonic” secularization at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, including the Camaldulian monastery in the Class (now a suburb of Ravenna) and the Franciscan and Clarissin monastery [1] .
Contains a collection of Roman coins, late antique (V century) ivory carvings. One of the famous exhibits of the museum is the ark of the middle of the fifth century. threaded onto the then-popular Traditio legislation plot.
Of the paintings of the Middle Ages, the cycle of 8 frescoes by Pietro da Rimini , made by the artist in 1320–40, is of great value; frescoes taken from the former church of St. Plain Clara.
Among other things, the National Museum also houses a collection of fabrics and paintings of the 17th-18th centuries. The courtyard of the museum is decorated with ancient Roman and early Christian sculptures: stone crosses of the 4th-5th centuries, sarcophagi .
During excavations in the territory of the church of St. Francis, which was held in 1879, was found decorated with gold late antique marble sarcophagus. The golden decoration of the sarcophagus was exhibited in the museum. The so-called Theodoric Shell, found near its mausoleum , was also exhibited there. Gold from the basilica and shell were stolen. The current location of these unique artifacts is unknown.
Notes
- ↑ Church of St. Clara (Chiesa di Santa Chiara) was founded in 1255 by Chiara da Polenta. From the 14th century became a monastery under the charter of Clara of Assisi . During the course of total Napoleonic secularization, in 1805 the monastery of the Clarissins was dissolved. In 1874, the premises became municipal property. In 1919, a local theater was opened at its base, called Teatro Rasi (named after the raven actor Luigi Razi).
Links
- Museum website
- The cycle of frescoes (from Santa Chiara)
- Museum booklet (with illustrations from the collections)
Literature
- Iannucci AM, Martini L. Museo nazionale, Ravenna. Roma: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, 1993. ISBN 978-8824004275 .
- Martini L. Cinquanta capolavori nel Museo nazionale di Ravenna. Ravenna: Angelo Longo Editore, 1998. ISBN 978-8880631903 .