Diocesan Museum of Assisi

The Diocesan Museum and the Crypt of San Rufino are located in the historic center of Assisi. The Museum was inaugurated in 1941 in the basement of the cathedral and the Palazzo dei Canonici. The museum's objective is to preserve and enhance the most important works from the cathedral and some neighboring oratories. The museum collection consists of about 300 works exhibited in nine sections. Of great interest is certainly the Corridor where archaeological finds found in the area are exhibited. The archaeological collection is mostly composed of sculpted capitals and the sarcophagus from the 2nd century AD with the libation rite. The other rooms offer paintings from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and banners from the seventeenth century with depictions of San Francesco and Santa Caterina. Among the most famous works there is the “Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria” by Orazio Riminaldi, a well-known painter of the Confraternity. The collection was enriched by an important donation from Frederick Mason Perkins, art historian, who lived for some time in Assisi. The crypt of San Rufino is a jewel of Romanesque architecture that still retains its original decorations. In particular, we find the four symbols of the evangelists: the angel of San Matteo, the lion of San Marco, the eagle of San Giovanni and the bull of San Luca.