Palazzo dei Musei (Modena)

Modena's civic museums are concentrated in this building. The most important are the Galleria Estense and the Musei Civici; the rest are covered below.

Originally this 'Palace of Museums' was an arsenal, and then it was converted into the Albergo dei Poveri – the poorhouse. All over Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, but especially in Italy, it was considered progressive to lock up the unemployed, disabled and orphans in buildings like this (and profitable too; usually they were subjected to forced labour). Stately façades like the one here (1764) served to maintain the decorum of the city and to keep respectable folk from worrying too much about what went on inside.

In 1884 the complex was converted again into the Palazzo dei Musei to house the Este picture collections, the Galleria Estense. In later years, the Musei Civici were moved into the ground floor, including Fondo Museo del Risorgimento (closed to the public since 1992) and the Museo Lapidario Estense, which houses Duke Francesco IV’s collection of Roman and medieval stone carvings, tombs and inscriptions, many of which come from Modena's predecessor Mutina: some of the Roman and medieval tombs, many which were originally placed in the Cathedral, have intriguing reliefs.