The Museum is located in the XVI Century Bassi-Rathgeb Palace. On three floors and twenty rooms, it displays the artworks collected by Monsignor Adriano Bernareggi (Bergamo’s Bishop from 1936 to 1953) all over the churches of Diocese, in order to record their history.
The collections’ arrangement follows an educational itinerary aiming to proof the cultural importance of Christianity in modern society (XVI – XIX Centuries), by means of both masterpieces and folk art objects.
All along the exhibition route you can admire paintings by L. Lotto, G. B. Moroni, D. Crespi, C. Ceresa, A. Vivarini and many other masters of the local schools, along with ancient fabrics and embroideries, fine jewels and polychromous wood sculptures.
The Museo Adriano Bernareggi opened in September 2000 in the Renaissance Bassi Rathgeb palace, donated by the Rathgeb heirs to the Diocese with the purpose of using it as a museum.
The original nucleus of the collections had been gathered by the forward-thinking Monsignor Adriano Bernareggi, Bergamo’s Bishop, starting from the Thirties. It r mostly reflects the culture in Bergamo from the XVI and the XIX Century, describing the period from the Council of Trent to the Second Vatican Council.
Over these three centuries, almost every church in Bergamo’s Diocese were built or reshaped. This huge creative effort left a permanent mark on our artistic and architectural heritage. If you enter any of the many churches of the Diocese you can find the signs of this legacy.
In order to better understand history and meaning of the artworks located inside our churches, it’s essential to know what kind of Church and faith determined their customers, as well as the liturgical scope dictating shapes and contents, and the perception of those who used to pray, sing and plead in front of them.
Therefore, as the Museo Bernareggi displays and interprets its collections, it also enhances a better understanding of the historical and cultural context where almost all the artistic heritage of Bergamo’s territory was born. Far from being a nostalgic operation, it’s a sort of memory exercise, a crucial way to understand the present and design the future.
Liturgical items are displayed next to religious pieces coming from churches, oratories and private houses, such as the numerous evidences of popular devotion demonstrating the widespread presence of rituals and daily habits. We find fragments of decorations from churches and convents next to numerous portraits of clergypersons, and objects demonstrating the presence of the Diocese and the Church in Bergamo: all this lead to a peculiar and interesting way of recounting History.
The educational vocation led to a set up designed specifically to be a stages itinerary, offering several multimedia tools for a deeper and flexible comprehension.
The Museum is located in the XVI Century Bassi-Rathgeb Palace. On three floors and twenty rooms, it displays the artworks collected by Monsignor Adriano Bernareggi (Bergamo’s Bishop from 1936 to 1953) all over the churches of Diocese, in order to record their history.
The collections’ arrangement follows an educational itinerary aiming to proof the cultural importance of Christianity in modern society (XVI – XIX Centuries), by means of both masterpieces and folk art objects.
All along the exhibition route you can admire paintings by L. Lotto, G. B. Moroni, D. Crespi, C. Ceresa, A. Vivarini and many other masters of the local schools, along with ancient fabrics and embroideries, fine jewels and polychromous wood sculptures.
The Museo Adriano Bernareggi opened in September 2000 in the Renaissance Bassi Rathgeb palace, donated by the Rathgeb heirs to the Diocese with the purpose of using it as a museum.
The original nucleus of the collections had been gathered by the forward-thinking Monsignor Adriano Bernareggi, Bergamo’s Bishop, starting from the Thirties. It r mostly reflects the culture in Bergamo from the XVI and the XIX Century, describing the period from the Council of Trent to the Second Vatican Council.
Over these three centuries, almost every church in Bergamo’s Diocese were built or reshaped. This huge creative effort left a permanent mark on our artistic and architectural heritage. If you enter any of the many churches of the Diocese you can find the signs of this legacy.
In order to better understand history and meaning of the artworks located inside our churches, it’s essential to know what kind of Church and faith determined their customers, as well as the liturgical scope dictating shapes and contents, and the perception of those who used to pray, sing and plead in front of them.
Therefore, as the Museo Bernareggi displays and interprets its collections, it also enhances a better understanding of the historical and cultural context where almost all the artistic heritage of Bergamo’s territory was born. Far from being a nostalgic operation, it’s a sort of memory exercise, a crucial way to understand the present and design the future.
Liturgical items are displayed next to religious pieces coming from churches, oratories and private houses, such as the numerous evidences of popular devotion demonstrating the widespread presence of rituals and daily habits. We find fragments of decorations from churches and convents next to numerous portraits of clergypersons, and objects demonstrating the presence of the Diocese and the Church in Bergamo: all this lead to a peculiar and interesting way of recounting History.
The educational vocation led to a set up designed specifically to be a stages itinerary, offering several multimedia tools for a deeper and flexible comprehension.
Children younger than 6 years
Journalists (submitting a document and/or accreditation)
Adults accompanying disabled or handicapped people
Adults accompanying groups (1 for each group)
AMEI members (submitting the card)
Note: with the same ticket in the same day you can also visit the Museo e tesoro della Cattedrale (Piazza Duomo - Bergamo)
Children younger than 6 years
Journalists (submitting a document and/or accreditation)
Adults accompanying disabled or handicapped people
Adults accompanying groups (1 for each group)
AMEI members (submitting the card)
Note: with the same ticket in the same day you can also visit the Museo e tesoro della Cattedrale (Piazza Duomo - Bergamo)
Reduced price for:
• Over 65 years (submitting an ID)
• Students ages 6 to 26 not turned (submitting an ID)
• Groups: at least 12 people paying (max 20). Reservation required.
• Law enforcement officers
• FAI members (Fondo Ambiente Italiano)
Reduced price for:
• Over 65 years (submitting an ID)
• Students ages 6 to 26 not turned (submitting an ID)
• Groups: at least 12 people paying (max 20). Reservation required.
• Law enforcement officers
• FAI members (Fondo Ambiente Italiano)
