Museo Diocesano Albani - Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta

The Museo Diocesano Albani, in the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, contains a rich collection of ecclesiastical furnishings, from the XIII century to our times; third and fourth century illuminated manuscripts, chalices and reliquaries of filigree and enamel, majolica and porcelain, amber, gold and silver, crystals, ivory pastoral staffs, and liturgical vestments lined with precious metals.

Impressive are the monumental brass lectern from the library of the Duke of Urbino, Federico da Montefeltro, the bronze candelabrum cast by Francesco di Giorgio Martini, as well as many detached frescoes which tell the story of the diffusion of the International Gothic style in the land of the Salimbeni brothers, Jacopo and Lorenzo.

The museum is named in memory of the noble family from Urbino of Pope Clement XI Albani (1700-1721) and its artistic patronage which contributed to enriching the “treasures of the cathedral”.

The imposing Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta was redesigned in Neoclassical style by the architect Giuseppe Valadier at the end of the XVIII century. It contains the Albani Museum, as well as the Oratory of the Grotta, a place of worship and piety tied to tradition of the Holy week, and now, as an exhibition space, the fulcrum of the ecclesiastic artistic heritage of Urbino.

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