MNRa

The considerable collections of the National Museum of Ravenna are housed in the former Benedictine monastery of San Vitale. The remarkable atmosphere of the two Renaissance cloisters lends a particular pleasure to the museum tour. On the upper floor, , the visitor walk over the abbey rooms: the old cells, dormitories, the rooms of the guest house.
The original core of the museum comes from the activity of collection undertaken by the monks of the major city abbeys during the 18th century. The collections formed by the end of the 19th century the National Museum. The original heritage went enriching itself through private donations and sculptural material from archaeological diggings.
The original character of the Museum is tied to the city identity and its early Christian and Byzantine monuments. Among the most prestigious exhibits: Eastern marble capitals, the transennas of San Vitale and the preparatory sinopia for the mosaic of Sant'Apollinare in Classe.
The Minor Arts, from fabrics to ivories, represent a large part of the museum collections. The Ivory collection is the most famous section, with ivory and bone artifacts from the 5h to the 19th century. Other important sections are: the bronze statuettes, the ceramics and the collection of arms and armours, icons and the numismatic collection.
The Museum also hosts an important series of frescoes dating back to the 14th century, a masterpiece by Pietro da Rimini that was taken from the Church of Santa Chiara in Ravenna.