Museo civico Santo Spirito

Civic museum of Agrigento in the cells of the former medieval monastery of Santo Spirito, with archaeological, art and ethnoanthropological sections.

Opening hoursAdmission €4

Directions

About the museum

The monastery of Santo Spirito was founded in 1299 by the noblewoman Rosalia Prefoglio, wife of Federico I di Chiaramonte, and entrusted to Benedictine nuns of the Cistercian order. The nuns left the building in 1866, when a royal decree expropriated it. It later served as an orphanage and as a soup kitchen for the poor, and in 1916 it passed from the State to the Municipality of Agrigento. After the Second World War, during which it had been used as an arms depot, it became the seat of the civic museum. A community of nuns is still active in the complex.

The cells and medieval rooms house the exhibition halls. The collections include archaeological material from the territory from the Greek, Roman and medieval periods, such as sculptures, ceramics, coins and everyday objects; paintings from the 15th to the 18th century; and an ethnoanthropological section with objects of rural life, antique toys, musical instruments and replicas of temples. On the first floor are a 15th-century marble crucifix and a room with a fresco of Saint Francis, Pope Celestine V and Saint Anthony of Padua.

Highlights

Cells of the former medieval monastery used as exhibition rooms
Greek, Roman and medieval archaeological finds
Paintings from the 15th to the 18th century
Ethnoanthropological section with objects of rural life and antique toys
15th-century marble crucifix

Permanent exhibitions

Sezione archeologica e artistica – Greek, Roman and medieval finds from the area and paintings from the 15th to the 18th century.
Sezione etnoantropologica – Objects of domestic and rural life, antique toys, musical instruments and replicas of temples.

Operated by: Comune di Agrigento