Why go
Its reliquaries, terracotta and paintings connect the church’s religious life with the artists who worked in Bologna. It is most useful as an extension of a basilica visit, especially after seeing the Arca and the choir. The objects reward attention to craft as well as religious history.
The full story
The museum collection includes chalices, monstrances and reliquaries alongside paintings and sculpture. A Gothic reliquary associated with Louis IX of France points to the church’s ties beyond Bologna; the account of its gift links it to the king’s canonization in the late thirteenth century. A painted terracotta bust of Saint Dominic by Niccolò dell’Arca offers a close comparison with his work on the great tomb. Other named pieces include a Madonna on wood by Lippo Dalmasio and remains of a terracotta Pietà by Baccio da Montelupo. Inlaid wood by Fra Damiano da Bergamo links the collection back to the choir stalls inside the basilica. The objects make most sense when seen after the church, because their subjects and makers recur across the complex. Confirm whether the museum rooms can be visited before building a day around them; the basilica itself provides the main encounter with these histories.