Museo di Sant'Agostino

The Museo di Sant'Agostino, on Piazza Sarzano in Genoa, holds medieval sculpture, architectural fragments and works rescued from lost Genoese monuments. It occupies the former convent of Sant'Agostino, founded by the Augustinian order in the 13th century, with a Gothic church whose striped tower is a landmark of the Sarzano hill. The convent was suppressed in the early 19th century and later damaged by bombing in World War II, after which the complex was restored and adapted as a museum, designed by the architect Franco Albini with Franca Helg in the 1970s. Their sensitive modern arrangement of display spaces, stairs and platforms around the cloisters is itself widely admired as an example of 20th-century museum design. The collection is centred on stone sculpture and decorative fragments, many recovered from demolished churches and palaces. The most famous object is the tomb monument of Margaret of Brabant, wife of Emperor Henry VII, by Giovanni Pisano, carved in the early 14th century, which survives in fragments assembled and displayed in the museum. Visitors also see Romanesque and Gothic capitals, sarcophagi, tombstones, frescoes and works by Genoese sculptors, together with Roman and later objects connected with the city's history. The approach is mainly chronological and by type of object, with the architecture of the church and cloisters as an active part of the display. The adjoining deconsecrated church is used for concerts and events, and its tower and Gothic facade add to the setting. The museum is run by the city's Musei di Genova network, and prices and hours should be confirmed at museidigenova.it. It stands a short walk from Porta Soprana and the Casa di Colombo, so the three sites combine easily for a medieval-themed half day. For those interested in sculpture and the physical remains of Genoa's past, the museum offers concentrated, unhurried viewing with few crowds.