Museo della Cattedrale

The highly successful architectural marriage of the town's 12th- to 15th-century buildings with the cast-iron-and-glass modernity of this new museum is almost more interesting than the collections themselves. The first floor contains a bit of Matteo Civitali's late-15th-century choir screen, removed from the Duomo in 1987 despite vehement local protest. The second floor starts with 16th-century paintings and a pair of too-realistic wooden carvings of St. John the Baptist's head on a plate. Past an early-17th-century Francesco Vanni Crucifixion and a stretch of priestly vestments is a room with sculptures from the Duomo's facade, such as Jacopo della Quercia's huge early-15th-century St. John the Evangelist. At the end of the route are the jewelry and baubles the Volto Santo wears on the days he's specially venerated.

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