Museo del Duomo (Cathedral Museum) e Oratorio della Purità

The Cathedral Museum of Udine is dedicated to the Patriarch Blessed  Bertrando di Saint Geniès (1265-1350), a figure of political and ecclesiastical importance who made significant contributions during his rule (1334-1350). As a pastor he took on a precise pastoral orientation through various initiatives such as two provincial assemblies and the convocation of four synods. He was a father to the poor, welcoming the hungry and derelict to his soup kitchen; he defended the people against the arrogance and illegality of the nobility, provoking the hatred of the feudal lords and his own violent death. As a principle of the Friuli Patriarchal State in a tumultuous age, he was able to enact policies of renewed moral and civic impetus, applying both lay and ecclesiastical institutional reforms, both administrative and military, and strengthening his jurisdiction in the European context. As a man of culture he began a process of promotion that aimed to help the rediscovery the civil and moral values in a socio-historical context for a constructive concept of individual identity; between 1342 and 1344 he attempted to found a university in Cividale..

The museum contains a significant patrimony of the history, culture and art of the patriarchate of Aquileia during the age of Blessed Bertrando, but is also a “high” expression of the Christian faith of the Mother Church of Aquileia..

The museum is located in the 14th century Cappella di S. Nicolò (Chapel), the Corpo di Cristo and the Battistero (Baptistery), which are the oldest and most accessible areas of the cathedral. The frescoes in these rooms were completed during various periods.  
The frescoes include two cycles by Vitale da Bologna (1348-49), an artist called to Udine by the Patriarch Bertrando; Vitale da Bologna was responsible for the a period of renewal in Friulian painting and the surrounding Alpine areas in decades subsequent to his work here. Partially detached from the chorus of the cathedral are scenes from the Old and New Testament (baptistery) and Vita, Miracoli e Esequie di San Nicolò in the chapel dedicated to the saint, with other registers of frescoes from earlier periods that show the lives of the Saints and iconographic themes, which can also be seen in the Chapel of the Body of Christ where three paintings on panel (15th century) are displayed, showing images of the life and death of Bertrando; a partitioned panel, previously part of the altar of the Chapel of Saint Nicholas, with the Incoronazione della Vergine and Miracoli di San Nicolò (14th century).

The Baptistery was instituted on the commission of Blessed Bertrand in 1348 and represents a singular example of Gothic-Cisterian architecture, together with the entrance way, made with different stone slab materials that grant purity and linearity to the shapes. The ribbed arches close in a key-shape with the figure of Saint John the Baptist shown with his right hand gesturing downward, and with his left hand holding a scroll with the words “Ecce agnus dei”. The baptistery also contains the valuable marble arch of Blessed Bertrand commissioned by the patriarch in 1348 for the Basilica of Aquileia to hold the reliquaries of Saints Hermagorus and Fortunato, early martyrs of Aquilieia. The sarcophagus was brought to Udine in 1353 in be used for the body of Patriarch Bertrando who died in 1350, which explains its denomination.
The sarcophagus is held up by five statues identified with the Saint Virgin Martyrs of Aquileia: Erasma, Tecla, Dorotea, Eufemia, and S. Valentiniano. The casket has bas relief work with the iconography of Hermagorus and Fortunato, inspired by a Romanic cycle of frescoes in the crypt of the Basilica of Aquiliea.
Aside from the remains of Patriarch Bertrando, the sarcophagus contained his medals, now shown in the display cases, along with the  liturgical vestments and the insignia assigned in the age of Betrando: a linen shirt with the silk standard of the eagle on a blue background, symbol of the patriarchate, a Persian made jasper silk brocade dalmatic, a chasuble in crimson velvet and fine stoles, embroidered in silk, gold and silver with effigies of the saint’s faces, the Virgin and Jesus, a maniple, an embroidered “kerchief”, a “head covering” appliquéd with sacred and symbolic motifs, a locally-embroidered cushion, as well as an ample linen “funeral shroud” embroidered with geometric forms in a cross pattern.  This historical and artistic repository is enriched with sacred and profane objects in gold from the 14th to the 17th centuries, most of which were the result of devotions and the cult promoted following the cruel death of Blessed Betrand. These include the croce-spilla (cross-pin) of Saint Elisabeth of Hungary, a gift from the Emperor Charles IV of Luxemburg.. 

The Oratorio della Purità, adjacent to the cathedral, is resplendent with the pictorial decorations of Giambattista Tiepolo (L'Assunta e la pala della Vergine Immacolata) and his son GianDomenico (monochromes on the walls).
The Oratorio della Purità can be visited on request.

OPENING DAYS AND HOURS

The Cathedral Museum is open
Monday – Saturday 10.00 -12.00  and 16.00 - 18.00
Sunday 16.00 - 18.00

ENTRANCE TO THE BAPTISTERY, 
piazzetta Bertrando
33100 -  Udine

entrance: by donation

Tel. +39 0432 506830 - +39 0432 505302
email:  museoduomoud@gmail.it                                        
www.spaziocultura.it/duomoud

Oratorio della Purità: everyday by request,
Saturday 10.00-12.00 excepting religious functions
 

Last update : 10/05/10 - Print page