Museum of the Beata Vergine della Ghiara's Sanctuary

Address and contacts

Corso Garibaldi, 44 - 42121 Reggio nell'Emilia
Museum of the Beata Vergine della Ghiara's Sanctuary

How to get there

Reggio nell'Emilia - Town centre

Historical notes

The Basilica della Ghiara Museum, housed in several rooms on the ground floor of the building which separates the two cloisters from the monastery, was founded in 1982 by the decision of the Vestry of the Temple and of the City Museums (of which it is one of the collections). Its essential function is to preserve and exhibit items relating to the most important events in the Basilica’s artistic heritage. Its exhibits include some of the objects offered to the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary as a sign of devotion and entrusted to the Temple through the centuries. Even before the laying of the first stone of the new church, in fact, the monastery started receiving large quantities of donations in the form of money and precious objects, which not only served as a financial resource for the construction of the church but also formed the core of what was to become the Basilica’s Treasure.
Although many of these objects have been lost over the years for a variety of reasons – not least due to the french requisitions carried out between the late 18th and early 19th centuries – a look through the handwritten inventories still held in the Temple’s archive gives us an idea of the vast quantity and high value of the gifts that steadily flowed to the monastery of the Servants of Mary. Among the donors, the names of illustrious members of the Italian nobility feature prominently alongside those of confraternities and town guilds.
The Ghiara Museum thus enables us to see to this day the strong bond that has linked the city to its Temple over the centuries.