Diocesan museum · Calabria · Reggio Calabria

The Diocesan Museum of Reggio Calabria

The Diocesan Museum of Reggio Calabria preserves sacred art and religious objects from the Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria–Bova, one of the oldest ecclesiastical seats in Magna Graecia. Positioned at the tip of the Italian peninsula, the collection documents the crossroads character of a city shaped by Greek, Byzantine, Norman, and Baroque traditions over two and a half millennia.

At a glance

Type: Diocesan museum of sacred art
Period: Collections spanning the Byzantine period to the 18th century
Style: Ecclesiastical heritage; Byzantine, Norman, and southern Baroque
Location: Reggio Calabria, Calabria, Italy
Coordinates: 38.1058° N, 15.6423° E

Overview

The museum is associated with the Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria–Bova, an ancient see whose origins are traditionally traced to the apostolic era and whose territory includes the Bovesia, the last enclave of Griko-speaking communities in mainland Italy. The collection consolidates works rescued from earthquake damage — Reggio Calabria suffered catastrophic destruction in 1908 — as well as objects gathered from suppressed monasteries and rural chapels across the archdiocese. It stands as a complement to the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia, which focuses on the pre-Christian heritage of the same region.

History

Reggio was a major city of Magna Graecia, later a Byzantine stronghold, and subsequently passed through Norman, Hohenstaufen, and Aragonese rule, each layer leaving traces in its ecclesiastical art. The 1908 Messina–Reggio earthquake, one of the deadliest in European history, destroyed much of the city and its churches; the diocesan museum’s role in consolidating what survived is therefore inseparable from the story of post-disaster cultural recovery. The archdiocese’s absorption of the ancient diocese of Bova, which served the Griko-speaking Greek-rite communities of the Aspromonte, adds a distinctive Byzantine strand to the holdings.

What you see

Highlights include Byzantine-style icons and liturgical objects reflecting the Greek rite practised in Calabria’s Griko communities, painted canvases from the Neapolitan and Calabrian Baroque, and silverwork ranging from medieval reliquaries to 18th-century processional pieces. Embroidered vestments in silk and gold thread document the artisanal tradition of the region’s convents. Architectural fragments rescued from churches destroyed in 1908 provide tangible evidence of the pre-earthquake urban fabric.

Cultural significance

The museum’s dual role — preserving both Latin-rite Baroque and Byzantine Greek-rite material — makes it unique among southern Italian diocesan collections. The Bova heritage component, documenting a linguistic and cultural minority whose Griko language is now nearly extinct, gives the collection particular ethnographic importance beyond its strictly art-historical value.

Practical information

Address: Reggio Calabria, Calabria, Italy
Hours: Check official website or contact the Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria–Bova for current opening times
Admission: Check official website

Getting there

Reggio Calabria is served by Reggio Calabria Centrale railway station with direct connections to Naples, Rome, and northern Italy. The city is also accessible via the A2 motorway. The ferry terminal connects Reggio to Messina, Sicily, in approximately 20 minutes. Local buses serve the historic centre.

Sources & resources

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Opened the&nbsp; 7 October 2010, the Diocesano Museum &ldquo;Mons. Aurelio Sorrentino&rdquo; of Reggio Calabria is located on the ground floor of the Archiepiscopal Palace that was built at the end of the 1700&#39;s next to the Cathedral of Maria SS.ma Assunta.



The exhibition aims, in particular, at documenting the distinguished historical and religious characteristics of the ancient Episcopal centres of Reggio Calabria and Bova, merged in 1986.



The pieces are shown in thematically arranged spaces, dedicated to the Fragments of the memory, where you can find marbles from the 9th century that belonged to the ancient Cathedral; &nbsp;to the Celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, where the visitors can see a reconstruction of an exceptional altar, and sacred objects and vases that are used for the Eucharist; to the Art for the Liturgy, in this section there are instruments and tools for aspersion, incensing, reciting and preaching. to the Treasure of the Cathedrals, where we exhibit sacred silverware dated back to the 16th and 19th century, distinguished emblems of the dignity and role of the bishop where a great level of commitment to the piece of art is clearly shown; to the Relation between Art and Devotion with furnishings and fittings, liturgical dresses that belonged to the Confraternity of Reggio; and to the Art and Cult of the Saints, with relics&nbsp; and tools with sacred images.&nbsp;



The most important exposed pieces are: The Resurrection of Lazar attributed to the Neapolitan painter Francisco De Mura, apprentice of Francisco Solimena ( 3rd decade of the 18th century); &nbsp;the Ostensory Radial painted by the polistenese Francisco Jerace in 1928, for the Regional Eucharistic Conference in Reggio Calabria, the Reliquary of the arm of St. John Theriste from the 17th century, which was given&nbsp; by Apollinare Agresta, the abbot of the Italian-Greek monastery to monsignor Marcantonio Contestabile, bishop of Bova from 1669 to 1699; the Pastoral of monsignor Antonio de Ricci, archbishop of Reggio from 1453 to 1490, a silver piece in Neapolitan-school style; a Crucifix in ivory donated to the Cathedral by the archbishop Alexander Tommasini (1818-1826); a french Chalice in silver and enamel, donated in 1879 by Queen Maria Cristina of Spain to the card. Luigi Tripepi; precious handmade &nbsp;weavings that belonged to the Confraternity of the Immaculate, in the church of SS Annunziata, one of them is a wall-hanging made of brocade of silk, made by a Lyionese manufacture (around the beginning of the 18th century); &nbsp;two Crowns in silver dated &nbsp;to 1614, that were part of the marble bust of the Madonna with Child, in the Con-Cathedral of the Madonna Isodia in Bova.

https://culturalheritageonline.com/places/the-diocesan-museum-l3099/

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