Museo civico di Cerchio

History

The history of the museum begins after the 1915 earthquake: the vault of the Church of the Madonna delle Grazie collapsed and was subsequently restored. During the restoration, works from the same church and other city places of worship were stored in some rooms of the church.

In the rooms next to the mother church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, once home to a convent of the Discalced Augustinians, one part was reserved for the prior's residence, while the other housed the museum of sacred art.

At the end of World War II, the liberated rooms hosted collections of silverware and costumes, while the cloister was set up as a museum of farming and pastoral traditions.

The civic museum, initiated by historian Fiorenzo Amiconi and officially established on October 21, 1986, is housed in six rooms. The collected works range roughly from the 14th to the 19th century. In 1990, the interior museum space was expanded with the ethnographic section and the section on farming and pastoral civilization, and later with the section dedicated to the Republic of Italy.

The museum, which was closed for a period after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, was restored and reopened on September 1, 2018.