Description
The Regional Museum of Messina, named after Maria Accascina and known as MuMe, tells the story of eight centuries of the city's art, from the 12th to the 18th century. It stands on Viale della Libertà and holds two large canvases by Caravaggio.
The two canvases are the heart of the visit. The Raising of Lazarus and the Adoration of the Shepherds were painted in 1609, during the painter's stay in the city. Next to them are works by his followers, including Mario Minniti.
Among the sculptures are the originals of Montorsoli's Fountain of Neptune, the Neptune and the Scylla damaged by the cannon fire of 1848, and the Madonna degli Storpi, carved in 1333 by Goro di Gregorio.
From the Middle Ages come the 13th-century mosaic of the Madonna della Ciambretta and the painted beams of the Cathedral ceiling, with warrior angels, Saint George and Jonah emerging from the whale's mouth. There is also a baptismal font signed and dated 1134.
The Renaissance is represented by Francesco Laurana's Madonna and Child, the sculptures of Antonello Gagini and Girolamo Alibrandi's Last Judgment. Further on you find the Deposition by the Flemish painter Colijn de Coter and the Madonna della Lettera by Mattia Preti.
Among the most curious objects is the Senate's berlin, the state coach of Messina's senators, carved and gilded by Domenico Biondo and painted by Letterio Paladino in 1742. There are also silverware, church vestments and the panels of inlaid colored marble, the "mischio" typical of Messina's churches.
The museum was founded in 1806 as the Museo civico peloritano, set up "to put an end to the plundering of art". From 1890 it was housed in the former monastery of San Gregorio, which the 1908 earthquake razed to the ground with the works inside.
For two years people dug through the rubble to recover paintings, statues and fragments of the destroyed churches, which were then gathered on the open ground of San Salvatore dei Greci, where the museum still stands. For decades the works remained in the rooms of an old silk mill.
The new building, planned from the 1970s, opened only in 2016 and completed its displays in 2017. In the outdoor areas columns, cornices and coats of arms from the collapsed churches remain, like an open-air lapidarium.
Don't miss
• The two Caravaggio canvases.
• The originals of Neptune and Scylla.
• The Madonna degli Storpi.
• The Senate's berlin.
Did you know?
• By floor area it is the largest museum in Southern Italy, larger even than Capodimonte in Naples.
• In 1951 it was discovered that some of the museum's paintings had been stolen and replaced with fakes.
The two canvases are the heart of the visit. The Raising of Lazarus and the Adoration of the Shepherds were painted in 1609, during the painter's stay in the city. Next to them are works by his followers, including Mario Minniti.
Among the sculptures are the originals of Montorsoli's Fountain of Neptune, the Neptune and the Scylla damaged by the cannon fire of 1848, and the Madonna degli Storpi, carved in 1333 by Goro di Gregorio.
From the Middle Ages come the 13th-century mosaic of the Madonna della Ciambretta and the painted beams of the Cathedral ceiling, with warrior angels, Saint George and Jonah emerging from the whale's mouth. There is also a baptismal font signed and dated 1134.
The Renaissance is represented by Francesco Laurana's Madonna and Child, the sculptures of Antonello Gagini and Girolamo Alibrandi's Last Judgment. Further on you find the Deposition by the Flemish painter Colijn de Coter and the Madonna della Lettera by Mattia Preti.
Among the most curious objects is the Senate's berlin, the state coach of Messina's senators, carved and gilded by Domenico Biondo and painted by Letterio Paladino in 1742. There are also silverware, church vestments and the panels of inlaid colored marble, the "mischio" typical of Messina's churches.
The museum was founded in 1806 as the Museo civico peloritano, set up "to put an end to the plundering of art". From 1890 it was housed in the former monastery of San Gregorio, which the 1908 earthquake razed to the ground with the works inside.
For two years people dug through the rubble to recover paintings, statues and fragments of the destroyed churches, which were then gathered on the open ground of San Salvatore dei Greci, where the museum still stands. For decades the works remained in the rooms of an old silk mill.
The new building, planned from the 1970s, opened only in 2016 and completed its displays in 2017. In the outdoor areas columns, cornices and coats of arms from the collapsed churches remain, like an open-air lapidarium.
Don't miss
• The two Caravaggio canvases.
• The originals of Neptune and Scylla.
• The Madonna degli Storpi.
• The Senate's berlin.
Did you know?
• By floor area it is the largest museum in Southern Italy, larger even than Capodimonte in Naples.
• In 1951 it was discovered that some of the museum's paintings had been stolen and replaced with fakes.