Museo Nazionale di Ravenna

About the museum

The Museo Nazionale di Ravenna is housed in the former Benedictine monastery of San Vitale, next to the famous sixth-century basilica. The oldest core of the collections dates from the eighteenth century, from the scholarly collecting of the Camaldolese monks of Classe, who gathered objects of artistic, antiquarian and natural interest in their monastery in the city. After the suppression of the religious orders the materials passed to the Comune, which founded the Museo Classense in 1804.

In the course of the nineteenth century the collections were reorganised and enriched with new finds from the area, until the museum became a state museum. In 1913 it found its present home in the abbey rooms and the two Renaissance cloisters of the monastery. Since 2014 it has been managed by the Ministry of Culture, today through the Direzione regionale Musei nazionali Emilia-Romagna.

The route opens with the Roman lapidary in the first cloister, where the Bassorilievo di Augusto stands out, and continues on the ground floor with the rooms of the herms and the refectory, which holds the fresco cycle by Pietro da Rimini detached from the church of Santa Chiara. On the upper floor visitors can see the rooms of Late Antiquity and Byzantine Ravenna, with the transennae of San Vitale and the sinopia (preparatory drawing) for the mosaic of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, and the rich collections of decorative arts: textiles, ivories, icons, small bronzes, arms and armour, ceramics.

Highlights

• Roman lapidary in the first cloister with the Bassorilievo di Augusto
• Fourteenth-century frescoes by Pietro da Rimini in the refectory, detached from the church of Santa Chiara
• Late Antique rooms with the transennae of San Vitale and the sinopia of Sant'Apollinare in Classe
• Ivory collection with the Dittico di Murano and rare early medieval textiles
• Icons of the Cretan-Venetian school, Renaissance bronzes, arms and ceramics

Permanent exhibitions

• Lapidario e sale monastiche – Inscriptions, funerary stelae and sculptures along the two cloisters, with the Bassorilievo di Augusto, the herms and an eighteenth-century pharmacy cabinet.
• Affreschi di Pietro da Rimini – The fourteenth-century cycle detached from the church of Santa Chiara in Ravenna is displayed in the monastery's spacious refectory.
• Tardoantico e arti applicate – Finds from imperial and Byzantine Ravenna, ivories, textiles, icons, small bronzes, arms and armour, ceramics, and a rare Islamic leather tray (desco).

Founded

1885

Operated by

Ministero della Cultura – Direzione regionale Musei nazionali Emilia-Romagna

Visitors per year

approx. 40,383

Admission & discounts

Free admission: First Sunday of every month; 25 April, 2 June, 23 July (feast of the patron saint), 30 August (anniversary of Theodoric's death), Notte d'Oro (usually the second Saturday of October), 4 November and 8 November (Ravenna Marathon).

A 10% commission applies to online purchases. Booking is optional (tel. +39 320 953 9916, prenotazioni@ravennantica.org). Combined tickets with other monuments in Ravenna are available, to buy at the ticket offices and online.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

All exhibition spaces are accessible thanks to a lift, stairlifts and sloped ramps.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Baby changing facilities

For families there are activities such as “Mio Museo” and the “Curiosity room”, as well as workshops and routes for schools. The museum has a Baby Pit Stop facility.

Getting there & parking

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop
• Wi-Fi

Ticket office and bookshop, where the museum's illustrated guide is sold (€2). Wi-Fi is listed among the museum's services in the Ministry of Culture's entry. The rooms have caption panels.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit