Luogo - Museum
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (MODO)
Where
Piazza Duomo, Orvieto (Terni)
Museum of the Works on the Cathedral—MODO
The acronym MODO stands for the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo di Orvieto, it is not only a museum but a Museum Network, having as a hub, its fulcrum, one of the most precious artistic heritages of humanity, the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, which preserves the masterpiece painting of Luca Signorelli inside its chapel, the Cappella Nuova or of St Brice. Departing from the fulcrum, the Cathedral, the visit itinerary goes through the MODO nodes, following the main theme, the history of the town and its Duomo. A pathway retraced through the precious artistic collections that the Fabbriceria—organization established to supervise the construction of the Cathedral—has conserved for more than eight centuries. The largest collection is
preserved inside the Papal Palaces, next to the Cathedral; where the works of Coppo Marcovaldo, Arnolfo di Cambio, Simone Martini, Luca Signorelli and Niccolò Circignani, are exhibited. On the first floor of PalazzonSoliano, the Collection dedicated to Emilio Greco (1913-1995), which is composed of sculptural and graphic works executed between 1947 and 1991, is hosted.
The 13th century church of the Convent of Sant’Agostino, which is the second node-stop, currently displays the group of sculptures of the Annunciation of Francesco Mochi, placed at the center of the apse, and the series of the Apostles and Saints, realized under the influence of various artists like Giambologna and Ippolito Scalza, but removed from the Duomo at the end of the 19th century.
A visit to the St Brice Chapel, inside the Duomo itself, completes the itinerary. Built not later than the first half of the 15th century, this chapel is among the most acclaimed of Italian painting for the cycle of frescoes containing The Last Judgment, which entirely decorates its vaults, partly painted by Beato Angelico (1447-49) and partly by Luca Signorelli (1499-1504).