Museo di Casa Professa

Museum of the Jesuit complex of Casa Professa in Palermo, with embroidered altar frontals, majolica, paintings and sacred silverware, as well as a crypt and the Oratorio del Sabato.

Opening hours unknownAdmission €5

Directions

About the museum

The museum is in the Casa Professa complex, next to the Chiesa del Gesù, a short walk from the Ballarò market, in the Albergheria district of Palermo. The Jesuits arrived in the city in 1549 with a group led by Diego Laynez, and the first church was begun in 1564; the building was later enlarged and consecrated in 1636. Bombing in 1943 seriously damaged it, and most of the decorations were redone in the 20th century.

The exhibition route starts in the sacristy and includes the Sala di Sant'Ignazio, also known as the Sala dei Paliotti, the Sala La Farina and the Sala La Nuza. It displays Baroque liturgical vestments, in particular embroidered altar frontals, some decorated with small corals and made mainly in workshops in Trapani; majolica from various Italian regions; paintings, statues and goldsmiths' work, including the sunburst monstrance by Antonio Nicchi from 1736.

The visit can also include the crypt, known as the Antro di San Calogero, and the Oratorio del Sabato, decorated with stuccoes by Procopio Serpotta. Artists represented in the collections and in the complex include Giacomo Serpotta, Ignazio Marabitti, Gioacchino Vitaliano and Antonio Grano.

Highlights

Embroidered altar frontals, some with small corals
Sunburst monstrance by Antonio Nicchi (1736)
Majolica from various Italian regions
Crypt known as the Antro di San Calogero
Oratorio del Sabato with stuccoes by Procopio Serpotta

Permanent exhibition

Museo di Casa Professa – Altar frontals, majolica, paintings and silverware of the Jesuits of Palermo, with a route from the sacristy to the dedicated rooms.