The Cathedral Museum is located in the premises adjoining St. Mary’s Cathedral, restored with Jubilee 2000 funds; it was created with the intention of representing a cultural meeting place where sacred art is a witness to the religious sentiment of the Christian community and an instrument of evangelization. The exhibition itinerary is spread over four floors and allows visitors to admire much of the Cathedral’s treasure. The exhibition includes bequests from successive archbishops of the Church of Cagliari, donations of objects used in liturgical celebrations and includes numerous silverware including chalices, pyxes, monstrances, process crosses, crucifixes, vestments, wooden statues and paintings. Among the most important works is the Retable of the Benefactors: an altarpiece of Catalan double triptych type, Sardinian in scope dating to the first half of the 16th century. Another valuable work on display at the museum is the Triptych of Clement VII, consisting of three panels: in the central compartment the Our Lady of Sorrows and Christ in Pity, in the left side the Madonna and Child and St. Anne, and in the right St. Margaret and the Dragon. The work arrived in Cagliari following the sack of Rome in 1527 and shows features attributable to the Flemish school. The Lamentation Over the Dead Christ group, datable to the second half of the 15th and early 16th centuries, consists of seven statues. Of considerable interest is the Hall of Vaults in which traces of the exterior decoration of the cathedral’s south transept are visible.
The museum is located near the area occupied by the Pes Palace in Villamarina, which was destroyed by bombing in 1943.
