The official origin of the Sanctuary of Montevergine dates back to the consecration of the first church in 1126. Beyond some popular beliefs that have linked the origin of the Sanctuary to an apparition of Our Lady, it can be said that it was the ascetic Marian spirit of St. William and his disciples that caused a beacon of devotion to the Holy Virgin Mother of God to rise on the top of Mount Partenio. Since then, the main purpose of the new monastic family was to serve God through devotion to Our Lady, which William’s disciples soon spread throughout Campania and adjacent regions, organizing numerous pilgrimages to their mother house. Marian devotion was conceived by William’s white sons as the most effective way to become part of the mystery of God’s Trinity and the redemption worked by Jesus. The fundamental reason for the arduous journey and the bitter climb to the church of Santa Maria di Montevergine, the prolonged prayers and offerings of believers, became the invocation of Our Lady’s powerful intercession to obtain God’s mercy. So it was that Montevergine soon became the most famous and visited Marian Sanctuary in Southern Italy, and pilgrimages took on their specific characteristic.
The need to allocate a special room, to contain works of art and finds of historical and local interest, was felt in Montevergine after the fire of the guesthouse in 1611 and after the fall of the central nave of the church in 1629. In the two painful circumstances, the monks recovered pieces of architecture and sculpture, votive tablets and crib scenes which, during the reconstruction phase, no longer found a place in the original site. The abbot Iacuzio, in 1764, thought well to catalogue and exhibit those finds in the corridor next to the courtyard of the Crows. Unfortunately this first museum arrangement, during the century of suppressions, was defeated and prices of archaeological interest were dispersed and scattered here and there in the basements of the monastery. After the Second World War, with the renewed sensitivity for the memories of the past and with the scientific and economic contribution of the competent ministry, the speech about the Museum of Montevergine, opened to the public in September 1968, was resumed. But it was not until 2000, on the occasion of the Great Jubilee, that the museum rooms were finally arranged.
From the hall of the former monastic refectory you can enjoy a seductive view of the city of Avellino and the entire Sabato valley.
