Diocesan Museum

Set between the Cathedral and the near Palazzo Ducale, in the heart of the old town, there is San Lorenzo Cloister, first built as the residence of the cathedral’s Canons, to which is still linked today. It was built between 1145 and 1178 absorbing an old palace dated back to the 10^th century. Inside this suggestive medieval building is the Diocesan Museum, born from the need to offer a historical memory of the Genoese church events through the centuries, bearing witness through works of art of the relationships between the city and its territory.

It offers a rich and various collection of archaeological evidence, silver ornaments, sculptures such as the funeral monument of Luca Fieschi, the Politico of San Bartolomeo di Barnaba da Modena (14^th cent.) and several altarpieces remembering of the high level of Genoese painting between 16^th and 17^th century represented by artists such as Perin del Vaga, Luca Cambiaso, Domenico Fiasella, Domenico Piola and Gregorio De Ferrari. The museum houses also a textile section with significant examples of silk manufacturing that made the city famous in Europe; extraordinary for value and rarity the so-called “Teli della Passione”, painted in 1538 on linen textile stained in indigo blue and considered as the ancestors of the modern jeans (from the Textile Collection owned by Soprintendenza per i Beni Storico Artistici ed Etnoantropologici della Liguria, entrusted at the Diocesan Museum).

At our tourist offices is possible to buy the entrance ticket to the Museum and the Cloister.

For information on prices and schedules, please visit the organisation's website.