Diocesan Museum, Agrigento

The former Diocesan Museum was designed by architect museographer Franco Minissi, commissioned by the then Bishop of Agrigento Monsignor Giovanni Battista Peruzzo. Constructed between 1958 and 1963 by demolishing the San Gerlando Catholic educational club, the museum was opened to the public in '64, but it served its function for a very short period, about two years, since in '66, due to the landslide that occurred along the southwest side of the city's historic center, it was precautionarily closed and its collection placed in the Archaeological Museum of San Nicola and in the premises of the nearby Archbishop's Palace.

Today the Diocesan Museum has its central and main headquarters in the city of Agrigento and other exhibition sites, with permanent exhibits, spread throughout the Diocese. The widespread Museum of Agrigento, which houses the Treasures of the Cathedral, certainly represents the most historically important entity: of the history of the local Church, of its religious, liturgical and cultic rites and traditions, of the developments of the culture of the territory over the centuries, with particular reference to the artistic forms assumed over time. It constitutes a valuable tool to promote knowledge of the cultural heritage and, at the same time, to enhance and publicize the history of religiosity in Agrigento. The Diocesan Museum is an originating part of the Mudia, which in Agrigento consists of the open-air museum itinerary with the sites of the historic center Cathedral, Diocesan Museum, Chiesa Maria dei Greci, and San Lorenzo.

With the different exhibition hubs,Mudia_Agrigento, Mudia_Aragona, and Mudia_Sambuca di Sicilia, the diffuse museum makes it possible to preserve and enhance the ecclesiastical heritage without uprooting it from the territory and the community for which it was conceived, designed and built. The community is not deprived of its artistic heritage and cultic objects, being able to still enhance them for catechesis and, when necessary, for the liturgy.