Museum and Crypt of Anagni Cathedral

The museum offers a tour that allows visitors to explore the history and heritage of the cathedral through a journey through time that begins in the Library and the Chapter House and continues through the New Sacristy with the most recent works, such as chalices, bishop’s mitres and precious reliquaries.

Next, we continue with a visit to the rooms of the Old Treasury, where we can admire the medieval collection of Boniface wall hangings and the Chapel of the Saviour, a marvellous piece of medieval architecture. Next, we descend to the cathedral’s basement, where we can see the Oratory of St. Thomas Becket, with ancient paintings from the 12th-13th centuries, and the beautiful Crypt of St. Magnus, which houses one of the most important painting cycles of the Medieval West.

The tour concludes with a visit to the Lapidary, located in the porticoes of the ancient cloister, which features marbles with cosmatesque decorations, plutei belonging to the ancient 9th-century cathedral, and an archaeological section with pieces of extraordinary beauty.

Anagni, known as the city of the popes, was a popular place of residence for popes, especially during the 12th and 13th centuries. The cathedral was the site of many important historical events, including the construction of the cathedral itself, the promulgation of a papal bull putting an end to the ‘struggle for investiture’, the excommunication of Frederick Barbarossa, the canonisation of saints, the consecration of archbishops, the news of Barbarossa’s defeat at Legnano, the signing of the Pactum Anagninum and much more.