6 Things to do Good for a Rainy Day in Molfetta That You Shouldn't Miss

The Museum of the Diocese of Molfetta, Ruvo, Giovinazzo and Terlizzi, set out over three levels in the elegant surroundings of the sixteenth-century Jesuit College (today used as an Episcopal Seminary), houses works of great historic, artistic, archeological and liturgical value, “living” historical evidence to the path of faith which has been accomplished by the local church over the centuries. Each artefact has its own place along that path, the path that any ecclesiastical museum should aim to retrace, and a path in which the museum also carries out its pastoral function.The museum’s route starts with a rich archeological section, including both pre-historic and pre-Roman material. Also on the ground floor, the Lapidarium room certainly constitutes one of the most “living” pieces of evidence of the history of the Diocese, as it contains various architectural fragments and sculptures which have come from Molfetta’s ancient Duomo (cathedral), from other churches and from local street furniture.The museum’s route leads the visitor to the contemplation of the Mystery of Easter, which comes to life here thanks to the harmonious arrangement of the antique wooden statues used in Molfetta’s Holy Week, commissioned by the Confraternity of Death. Ideally immersed in the processional route which winds around the streets of the town. The first floor of the museum houses the beautiful, monumental Library of the Espiscopal Seminary which houses, in its elegant bookcases, around 47,000 volumes including manuscripts, incunables, graduals, cinquecentine and numerous other volumes dating back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, originating from the library funds of the ex-Jesuit College. The picture gallery, on the second floor of the museum, aims to illustrate the development of local painting over the centuries, by using numerous pieces of evidence from all over the diocese. The wealth of paintings on display span an arc of time from the fifteenth century to the modern day, highlighting various areas of contact with the contemporary art of southern Italy.