Welcome to the Musei Civici di Monza. Our journey through the museum that contains the art works belonging to the city of Monza starts here. It has been built up over more than a century, thanks to the generosity of collectors and enthusiasts who have added to Monza’s art heritage over time. We have a collection of hundreds of works and thousands of antique prints, carefully conserved in our repositories. Here, you can admire a selection of these works, which represent the richness and variety of the collection.
The museum has a long history. It was officially founded in 1935 to display to the public a series of works that had been donated to the municipality beginning in 1874. The initial donation is a piece dating back to Roman times, which you can see in the first room of the museum. Many more donations and bequests have followed since then, including the core of the collection, bequeathed by Eva Galbesi Segrè in 1923, which we will talk about once we visit the first floor.
Given the increasing number of available works that deserve to be seen by the public, the Municipality of Monza decided to set up a museum, which was initially located in Royal Villa of Monza. During the 1960s, the museum was split across two sites: the Gallery of Paintings remained in the royal palace, while the archaeological collections and mediaeval relics were put on display in a room in the Arengario, the old municipal palazzo in the heart of Monza.
After both sites were closed in the 1980s, the museum was reopened, in 2014. It was placed in this building, known as the Casa degli Umiliati, which had undergone lengthy restoration work to adapt it to the very latest standards for preserving this heritage and displaying it safely.
The Humiliati [Italian Umiliati] were a mediaeval religious order – no longer in existence – dating back to the 12th century. They practised humility and poverty, and they lived from manual work, also dedicating themselves to acts of charity. This building, once known as a convenium and now as the Casa degli Umiliati, was a place for meeting and prayer set out, like a convent, around a cloister. From the late 16th century, it began to be used as a place for charity for the poor, then public offices and schools, until it was renovated to house the Musei Civici di Monza. The mediaeval structure has undergone many alterations, although we can still enjoy the square cloister with the surviving portico on two sides, and the elements in the museum itself, including windows and ceiling decorations, mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries.
In 2023, thanks to NRRP funds from the EU, the museum was able to acquire different instruments to guarantee autonomous access to all visitors, including people with physical, sensory, and developmental disabilities. The route is marked with signs and aids for a totally inclusive visit.
Now you are coming to the cloister. Our visit starts here.

Insights

• The Humiliati: a Lombard history
• Monza and its millennial history