Museo diocesano di Lanciano

History

Opened to the public in 2002 by Monsignor Carlo Ghidelli, the museum is the result of meticulous research into ancient works, curated by Monsignor Enzio d'Antonio, at the archbishop's residence and various churches in Lanciano, some of which have been deconsecrated for centuries.

The museum is located inside the Palazzo del Seminario, a 17th-century building that houses the offices of the Curia, the Library, and the Diocesan Historical Archive. It is divided into nine rooms according to an innovative thematic arrangement and contains a notable collection of artworks, the result of painstaking restoration work, related to Christian worship and dating from the 13th to the 19th century.

The palace was built as the seat of the Frentana diocese in the 16th century (established in 1515, separating from that of Chieti), and housed the seminary until the 1960s. Today it is home to the Diocesan Museum of Lanciano. The construction likely began in 1590, the year the old episcopal residence at the Cathedral was abandoned to build the Hospital of Santa Maria della Sanità. The building has a complex layout resulting from the amalgamation of pre-existing houses. In 1819, the portal of the old Church of the Annunziata in Piazza Plebiscito, demolished by Eugenio Michitelli to create the neoclassical facade of the Cathedral, was mounted on the main facade. The 15th-century portal features a pointed arch, and the neo-Gothic elements of the facade (the windows) were created as part of a revival, while the second lateral portal is typically Baroque.

The facade has a three-level structure, plus an attic, defined by brick cornices that mark the imposts of the openings. On the ground floor, there are three portals, of which the lateral ones, with jambs and pointed arches in brick, are currently bricked up. The main entrance is in the center, featuring the 15th-century portal. …

Collection

Marian devotion is particularly strong among the people of Lanciano, as evidenced by countless ex-votos, paintings, and gold and precious stone jewelry donated to the Madonna del Ponte, the city's protector, all dating from the 17th to the 20th century. The first two rooms are dedicated to the veneration of the Madonna, containing, in addition to the ex-votos, wooden statues from the 14th and 15th centuries.

In approximately one thousand square meters of exhibition space, significant artifacts spanning centuries of the history of the Frentana Church are displayed: paintings, sculptures, goldsmithing, sacred vestments, ex-votos, wooden furnishings, embroideries, manuscripts, and precious bindings. These objects, dating from the 13th to the 20th centuries, primarily come from the Cathedral, various churches of the Diocese, and the Archbishop's Palace. The core of the collection is notably rich in goldsmith works, featuring masterpieces such as the 15th-century processional cross by Nicola da Guardiagrele and workshop, the almost contemporaneous pastoral staff of the Sulmonese school, and the pontifical jug, marked 1603, probably of Neapolitan manufacture.

The textile section is also significant: notable are the rich 19th-century liturgical vestments belonging to Archbishop Francesco Maria de' Luca, and the extraordinary large ensemble from the mid-18th century, painted in tempera and embroidered, donated by the same prelate to the Cathedral. Among the paintings, noteworthy are the early 16th-century Christ Carrying the Cross by a Giorgionesque painter, the Madonna and Child signed by Iacovo de Lanziano, an artist who likely stayed in 15th-century Venice, and the late 18th-century model by Giacinto Diana for the lost fresco decoration of the Cathedral's dome. Among the sculptures, significant pieces include a Madonna and Child of the late 13th - early 14th-century Abruzzese school, and another Madonna, also originally with the Divine Infant, attributed to an Abruzzese master of the early 15th century. …