Brief story of sacred christian museums: diachronic comparisons from antiquity to the present time

Abstract

The article aims to describe some important cases of sacred Christian museums from late antiquity to contemporary age, in order to trace the story of this institution and identify the key concepts that lay at its basis. This diachronic comparison starts from the donation of books and liturgic objects made by St. Augustin to its episcopal church (late 4^th century); then it moves to the middle ages -when the idea of sacred Christian museums is fully developed- and focusses on the Treasure of Saint Denis, set up by the abbot Suger in the 12^th century. In the second part of the essay, the Vatican museums of Christian objects and the concepts that inspired them in the 18^th century are exposed. This will lead then to the final presentation and analysis of the current guidelines for sacred Christian museums, seen as the final product of the millenary heritage of Christian museology.