Museo della Porziuncola. Assisi (PG)

Museo

Part of

Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli. Assisi (PG)

Detailed information

Description

The Museo della Porziuncola is located in the Municipality of Assisi, it is part of the itinerary to visit the Santuario di Santa Maria degli Angeli, one of the most important places connected to the human and spiritual life of St Francis. The museum is an integral part of the itinerary to visit the Sanctuary of Santa Maria degli Angeli; it takes the space of a few rooms inside the adjacent Convent of San Bernardino. Already established in 1924, it was set up again, on the occasion of the 2000 Jubilee, following a thematic and chronological organization of the exhibit. The itinerary is introduced by a scale model, reproducing the territory surrounding the Porziuncola before the Franciscan friars established their settlement, and follows themes such as the Porziuncola between the 13th and the 16th century, the Marian iconography and that of the Basilica realized by the architect Galeazzo Alessi. Room A, the intent of the exhibit here is to show the history of the Porziuncola—in Latin Portiuncula—as a “small pre-Franciscan church” and its landscape view; inside this room, a marble plaque—sculpted in relief and with two crosses inscribed in an architectural frame remounting to the 9th or 10th century that once probably covered the ancient altar—is displayed. In Room B there is the Crucifix depicting The Christus Patiens of Giunta da Pisano and the altarpiece of the Master of Saint Francis of the same century: according to tradition the body of the saint was laid down on it, when it was translated from the Portiuncula to Assisi to receive a solemn burial ceremony. The wooden pulpit known to be of St Bernadine, which can be dated to the early years of the 15th century, and the Altarpiece in sculpted and glazed clay depicting the Coronation of the Virgin of Andrea della Robbia, executed around 1475, are located in Room C. Inside Room D, which is dedicated to the Marian iconography, the Madonna del Latte is hosted, a sculpture from the end of the 14th century. Originally the statue was positioned inside a tabernacle above the Portiuncula façade. Inside Room E, the last one, it is possible to see the description, through graphic evidence, of the building stages of Galeazzo Alessi Basilica. Furthermore, in this Room there are also paintings from the 17th century, depicting the most important saints of the religious Order executed by artists such as Francesco Providoni and Cesare Sermei.