Monumental Complex of Santa Croce

The museum is located in some rooms of the former Dominican convent of Santa Croce ed Ognissanti founded in 1566 by Pope Pius V, a native of Bosco Marengo. In the second half of the century. XIX the property of the convent passed to the State and was used as a youth reformatory until 1989.

In 1999 it was possible to access the funds of the 2000 jubilee for the restoration of a part of the former convent including the rooms originally intended for the sacristy and the chapter room with the aim of allocating them to museum use. The main nucleus of the museum would have been made up of the minor panels that are part of the original altarpiece of the main altar of the adjoining church called the “Vasari machine”, dismantled in 1712 and replaced by the current high altar.

In October 2011 the museum was inaugurated with the preparation of the first room in which, in addition to the 10 minor panels of the initial project, the large panel of the "Martyrdom of St. Peter of Verona" was added, in the meantime restored and removed from the previous one. placement in the church. The main nucleus of the museum is made up of panels from the majestic high altar of the church designed by Giorgio Vasari. The paintings were made by Giorgio Vasari himself and his workshop.

In 1712 the altar was dismantled and the paintings that decorated it were arranged variously in the church, the purpose of the museum is to reunite the tables that made up the "Vasari machine" making them more legible in the logic of the original location.

In 2015 the other rooms were temporarily set up with objects, sacred vestments and books related to the figure of the Pope founder of the convent, which belonged to his family and arrived in the municipality of Bosco Marengo. In other rooms of the Museum already equipped, in the near future, there will be placed paintings and sacred objects, currently being restored or already restored, which are part of the furnishings of the church and the convent.

The premises of the museum, like the rest of the former convent, are part of the state property of the State and given in concession to the Municipality of Bosco Marengo which manages them with the collaboration of the local Friends of Santa Croce Association; the church and the works on display are part of the Fund for Religious Buildings (FEC) headed by the Ministry of the Interior.