Museo d'arte sacra Abbazia di Vallombrosa

Museum in the tower of the Vallombrosa abbey with paintings, vestments and sacred furnishings, including an altarpiece by Domenico Ghirlandaio.

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About the museum

The Museum of Sacred Art is located in the abbey of Santa Maria di Vallombrosa, mother house of the Vallombrosan Congregation founded in 1036 by Saint John Gualbert. It was established in 2006 and gathers much of the abbey’s artistic heritage, together with some works from other Vallombrosan and non-Vallombrosan sites.

The rooms occupy the abbey’s tower and, in particular, a large space that once housed the printing workshop. As early as the late 18th century the abbey had a museum with mixed collections of artworks, archaeological finds and natural history specimens, which was closed with the Napoleonic suppressions of 1810.

Among the works on display are an altarpiece with the Madonna and Child and saints attributed to Domenico Ghirlandaio and his workshop, the Altoviti parament with a 15th-century chasuble, a 14th-century ivory staff with carved lions, the reliquary of the arm of Saint John Gualbert, commissioned in 1500, and the scagliola panels of the monk Ignazio Hugford.

Highlights

Altarpiece with the Madonna and Child and saints by Domenico Ghirlandaio and workshop
Altoviti parament with 15th-century chasuble
Reliquary of the arm of Saint John Gualbert
Reliquary of the Nail, gift of Saint Louis IX of France
Scagliola panels by the monk Ignazio Hugford