Museo d'Arte Sacra della Marsica

The Museo d'Arte Sacra della Marsica is a national museum of religious art and archaeology located in Celano, in the Province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy. Housed within the historic Piccolomini Castle, the museum preserves and exhibits the major artistic and archaeological heritage of the Marsica region. Its collection spans from the Paleolithic period through the 18th century, encompassing sculpture, painting, goldsmithing, sacred vestments, and significant archaeological finds. Established in collaboration with the Diocese of Marsi, the institution serves as a critical repository for regional artifacts, many of which were relocated to the museum for protection following the 1915 Avezzano earthquake.

The museum was created at the behest of superintendent Renzo Mancini in collaboration with the Diocese of Marsi to exhibit, protect, and enhance the artistic heritage of Marsica. It assembled works previously held in the National Museum of Abruzzo and the Palazzo Venezia Museum in Rome, which had been transferred there after the 1915 earthquake, alongside artifacts rescued from local churches lacking adequate security. The first two sections of the museum were inaugurated in 1992, and the full exhibition space opened to the public two years later, complete with a conference hall and temporary exhibition rooms. In 2003, the Torlonia Collection, acquired by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities in 1994, was added to the original nucleus of sacred art. Following the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, part of the National Museum of Abruzzo's collection was temporarily relocated to the Celano museum. Since December 2014, the museum has been managed by the Ministry of Culture through the Abruzzo Museum Center, which became the Regional Directorate of Museums in December 2019.

The museum occupies nine rooms structured around five core areas: painting, sculpture, goldsmithing, sacred vestments, and archaeology. The sacred art collection on the first floor spans the 6th to the 18th centuries, featuring Byzantine-style paintings, medieval Madonnas with Child, processional crosses, and liturgical objects. The archaeological section, located on the ground floor, covers periods from the Paleolithic and Neolithic, with flint, iron, and bronze spearheads, to classical devotional sculptures, domestic pottery, fibulae, and combs categorized by the gender of the deceased. It extends into the late Lombard period with window panels cut into Greek crosses from vanished churches. The museum also preserves stone architectural elements and wooden door panels salvaged from regional churches.

Highlights of the painting collection include a Crucifixion of Jesus from the school of Vincenzo Foppa, a 13th-century Madonna del Latte from Santa Vittoria in Carsoli, another Madonna del Latte from Santa Maria Nuova in Collelongo, and a bust of the Madonna from around 1440 by Andrea De Litio, which art historians consider his first executed work. De Litio is also represented by a Virgin from Cese. The 14th-century processional stem cross of Cese is another key piece. The archaeological section's most significant pieces belong to the Torlonia Collection, comprising 184 objects and 344 Roman bronze coins recovered during the draining of Lake Fucino. Standouts include a head of Aphrodite from the 3rd or 2nd century BC, an ivory lion head, and a large bas-relief depicting the walled city of Marruvium, a masterpiece of Abruzzese Roman sculpture. Additionally, the museum holds restored remains of two 1st-century BC bone beds from chamber tombs in Aielli discovered in 1936, and 27 stone works from the 11th and 12th centuries from the Church of San Pietro in Alba Fucens, including a Romanesque tombstone of intertwined dragons and a fragment of a mermaid grasped by a griffin.

The museum is housed inside the Piccolomini Castle in Celano. The castle was founded in the late 14th century by the Berardi family, who owned the County of Celano, and was completed in the mid-15th century by the succeeding Piccolomini family. Remnants of 15th-century frescoes are visible in the castle courtyard. The courtyard also incorporates architectural elements preserved from other regional sites, including portals from the Church of San Nicola in Marano dei Marsi and the ruined Church of San Salvatore in Paterno, the latter saved in the 19th century by Antonio De Nino. Additionally, the funerary cippus of Aulo Virgio Marso from the Rio Tavana archaeological area in Lecce nei Marsi is located in the courtyard.

The museum is located in Celano, Province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy. It operates as a national museum under the ownership and management of the Italian Ministry of Culture, administered through the Regional Directorate of Museums since December 2019. The museum's official website is maintained by the Italian cultural heritage network at http://www.museodellamarsica.beniculturali.it.