Museo Baroffio e del Santuario del Sacro Monte sopra Varese

The Museum Baroffio was born originally to house the collection that the baron Joseph Baroffio Dall'Aglio has donated to the Shrine of St. Mary of the Mount; only later it see also merge the assets of the Sanctuary Museum (opened in 1900 to collect the valuable donations to Our Lady). The Museum was designed by Pogliaghi and opened in 1936. Since then, it has been enriched thanks to numerous donations. Among the most important works: the "Madonna and Child" of the twelfth century, Museum's logo, by Domenico and Lanfranco Ligurno; the precious Ambrosian antiphonary by Cristoforo de' Predis; the frontals embroidered; paintings by Procaccini, Chignoli, Schedoni and Flemish and Dutch masters. The Museum was reopened in 2001 after a ten-year closure for renovations. Even the works kept inside have been restored and reorganized according to the current criteria of exhibition. Among the new rooms must be noticed the "Section of Contemporary Sacred Art" (Guttuso, Matisse, Minguzzi, Sironi etc.).