Piccolo Museo San Paolo

Museum in the Palazzo della Cultura in Reggio Calabria with over 180 icons from the Balkans, Greece, Russia and Calabria, and a picture gallery from the 14th to the 19th century.

Opening hours unknownFree admission

Directions

About the museum

The museum grew out of the collection of Monsignor Francesco Gangemi (Reggio Calabria, 1906), who for more than sixty years was a priest of the church of San Paolo di Rotonda, as well as a teacher, writer and art collector. The collections were first kept in rooms behind the church and later moved to the ground floor of the Palazzo della Cultura in Reggio Calabria after its restoration.

The most important core is a large collection of icons of different periods, coming above all from Russia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece, as well as from Calabria; some are very rare and document the long presence of the Orthodox tradition in southern Italy. The picture gallery includes more than one hundred paintings from the 14th to the 19th century, of the Neapolitan, Flemish and southern Italian schools.

The collections are completed by ivory sculptures, sacred silverware such as chalices and monstrances, and a library with ancient parchments.

Highlights

Over 180 icons from the Balkans, Greece, Russia and Calabria
Russian icon with a calendar of thirty saints
Panel of Saint Michael slaying the dragon, attributed to Antonello da Messina
Picture gallery with paintings from the 14th to the 19th century
Sacred silverware, ivories and ancient parchments

Operated by: Fondazione Piccolo Museo San Paolo