Kronos – Cathedral Museum and the ascent to Guercino’s dome at Piacenza Cathedral are accessible from the garden at Via Prevostura 7. The opening of the museum is recent and dates back to 3 July 2015.
The Kronos museum
The museum is divided into three levels: the ground floor houses the permanent exhibition, the second level is dedicated to temporary exhibitions and the third floor houses the Codex 65 and the archive section. Among the treasures on display is the Book of the Master (or Codex 65), an illuminated codex that is a model and treasure for the liturgy and constitutes a synthesis of medieval culture.
The exhibition offers other precious manuscripts, silverware, liturgical vestments and important altarpieces, sculptures and furnishings from the cathedral and other churches in the diocese.
The visit
Since 2018, the visiting experience has been enriched with multimedia installations. In addition to the rich itinerary of Kronos – Cathedral Museum, visitors also have the opportunity to climb the dome frescoed by Guercino. The ascent is via medieval paths cut into the thickness of the walls, spiral staircases and attics. This route allows breathtaking views of both the city and the interior of the cathedral.
The final stop on this walk is the loggia of the dome drum, where it is possible to admire at close quarters the cycle of frescoes painted by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Guercino, between 1626 and 1627.
Guercino’s Dome
Guercino’s Dome, painted by one of the greatest Emilian artists of all time, is located inside Piacenza Cathedral.
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as il Guercino, was born in Cento in 1591 and lived most of his life in Bologna. The Emilian artist is a figure with few folkloric traits-if it were not for that squint that delivered him the nickname by which we know him-but not unloved by the general public.
In Piacenza Guercino produced one of his masterpieces, frescoing the dome of the cathedral between 1626 and 1627. It is a monumental, far-reaching work.
Here Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli known as Morazzone began painting the Prophets in 1625, but died after completing only the first two segments. In 1626 Guercino succeeded him. He completed the other six compartments of the dome (the prophets Haggai, Hosea, Zechariah, Ezekiel, Micah, Jeremiah), the lunettes in which episodes from Jesus’ childhood alternate with eight fascinating Sibyls, and the frieze of the tamburo.
Since from below the frescoes stand out so far away that it becomes almost impossible to appreciate them properly, in order to enhance and make the prophets and sibyls more approachable, an elevated ascent inside the dome was made on the occasion of the Guercino in Piacenza event, which remains usable to this day.
Practical information:
Maximum height of the path (dome): 27 meters
Number of steps going up: 136.
Access for the ascent to the dome is located at 7 Prevostura Street, at the back of the Cathedral.
The tour takes place in the presence of an escort and leads to normally inaccessible areas of the cathedral, inside the dome, along the ceiling of the nave up to the cross-shaped window on the façade, from where you can admire the city from above.
Tours by appointment during the week and fixed start tours on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays at 3, 4 and 5 p.m.
