Modena's Museum Palace

The building, which was designed by Pietro Termanini and erected in the period of time comprised between 1767 and 1771, was then chosen (in 1881) as the seat of the most important artistic and bibliographical collections of the Este period and the venue for the most representative civic and cultural institutions.

It hosts several important institutions. The Estense Library cherishes a rich collection of ancient volumes, manuscripts, pamphlets and precious incunabula. The Estense Gallery, an inestimable art collection which was given to the city by the Duke Francis V of Austria-Este, gathers outstanding works of art of great historical-artistic value, such as the portrait of Francis I, which was realized by Velazquez, and the marble bust depicting the Duke, which was sculptured by Bernini. It also contains precious artworks by Cosmé Tura, Nicolò dell'Abate, Dosso Dossi, Guido Reni, Guercino, Tintoretto, El Greco, Veronese and Carracci brothers.

The Estense Lapidary Museum cherishes a rich collection of funerary monuments  which were realized  in the period of time comprised between the Roman Age and the XVII century. The Civic Museums were erected in 1871 according to the canons of Positivism; in 1962, they were subdivided into the Ethnological Archaeological Civic Museum and the Art Civic Museum, but they still retain common  nineteenth-century features. The Civic Museums also include the Roman Epigraphic Museum, which cherishes outstanding funerary monuments which date back to the Roman Age, and the Graziosi Gallery of Plaster Casts, which hosts a precious collection of artworks by the local artist Giuseppe Graziosi which was given to the museum by his heirs.

The Palace also hosts the Civic Historical Archives, which includes precious documents which were written up to eight centuries ago, and the Poletti Civic Art Library, which was opened in 1872 and still cherishes precious volumes, engravings, photographic prints and both artistic and architectural sketches.