Museo Diocesano Velletri

The Diocesan Museum of Velletri was founded in 1927 by Cardinal Basilio Pompili, bishop of Velletri and the vicar of Rome, as the Cathedral Museum. The works that made up the collection came from the Treasury of the Chapter of the Cathedral of Velletri. In 1943, before the bombing that semi-destroyed town of Velletri, the collections were deposited in the Vatican and returned in the San Clemente cathedral at the end of the war. In 1946 the new cardinal bishop Clement Micara decided to reconstitute the Museum, the collection was placed temporarily in the premises obtained in the ancient choir of the canons Winter. The venue turned out to be inadequate and the Chapter decided to build special rooms in which guard the collection. In 1983, following the theft of numerous works (some of which have not yet been found) including Veliterna Cross, the museum was closed to the public. The Cross Veliterna recovered by the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection was returned to the Bishop of Velletri in 1998. At the end of the nineties Bishop Andrea Maria Erba decided to give it a new and permanent location in the local seminary, now closed for some time. The January 22, 2000, anniversary of the entrance of the bishop in the diocese, the museum was opened in the new production. The paintings, wallpaper and jewelery visible in its current location, completely restored, testify to a great artistic production importance and highlight the priority role that had the suburbicarian diocese of Velletri on other bishoprics in the region, from all 'modern era Middle Ages.