Cagliari, Duomo Museum

The Duomo Museum is located in the heart of the Castle, next to the Cathedral of Santa Maria, built in its original forms by the Pisans in the 13th century.
The museum structure wants to represent a place of encounter and cultural growth, where sacred art testifies to the religious sentiment of the Christian community and documents the historical journey of the diocesan territory, within and beyond the borders of the city, even in relation to minor realities.
The exhibition is spread over five floors, one of which is below street level, connected by an internal staircase and an elevator that allows a panoramic view of the city.
Inaugurated in 2004, the museum welcomes much of the Cathedral's Treasury consists of the legacies of the archbishops who succeeded each other in the Church of Cagliari, donations of objects used in liturgical celebrations: numerous silver, including chalices, pissids, monstrances, processional crosses, crucifixes, and also vestments, wooden statues and paintings.
Among the most important works are remember the 'Retablo of the Beneficiates': a Catalan-style altarpiece with a double triptych, of Sardinian scope, dating back to the first half of the 16th century. Another valuable work is the “Triptych of Clement VII”, a copy of a lost original by Rogier Van Der Weiden, consisting of three panels: in the central compartment the Our Lady of Sorrows and the Christ in Mercy, on the left the Madonna and Child and Saint Anne, on the right Saint Margaret and the Dragon. The work, owned by Pope Clement VII, arrived in Cagliari following the sack of Rome in 1527. The group of “Lamentation over the Dead Christ”, dating between the second half of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century, is composed of seven wooden statues.
Of great interest is the “Room” of the Treasure” in which the traces of the external decoration of the south transept of the Cathedral are visible.

Why it's important to visit it
The museum is inserted in a historical-urban and environmental context of considerable value. The prestigious collections - silver, sculptures, paintings - fascinate the visitor by recounting centuries of the history of the Cathedral and of popular devotion. The view offered by the museum structure over the city and the Gulf of Angels is enchanting.