Cagliari, National Picture Gallery

The National Art Gallery of Cagliari is one of the exhibition venues of the National Museums of Cagliari, an Institute of the Ministry of Culture with special autonomy since 2019.
It is located at the top of the ancient district of Castello, inside the Citadel of Museums, built between 1956 and 1979, with the recovery of the Royal Savoy Arsenal and the previous Spanish city walls, designed by the architects Libero Cecchini and Piero Gazzola.
The Pinacoteca preserves and exhibits a pictorial collection focused on local Sardinian, Italian, Spanish and Flemish production from the 15th century to the contemporary, divided into three recently renovated exhibition floors. Access is from the third floor of the Archaeological Museum.
In addition, the collection also consists of artifacts of liturgical production and use, exhibited in the windows along the way, and the exhibition and enhancement of the collections of handmade artifacts, such as the collections of ceramics, monumental fragments, and again of weapons, fabrics and woven objects, is being planned.
The original and most conspicuous nucleus of the heritage of the Pinacoteca di Cagliari was formed following two events in the second half of the 19th century. The first was the law enacted by the newborn Kingdom of Italy concerning the suppression of church orders (Royal Decree No. 3036 of July 7, 1866), which allowed the confiscation by the State of ecclesiastical assets and therefore, in fact, authorized the removal of the most significant works and furnishings in the hands of the Church.
The second event was the demolition in 1875 of the church of San Francesco in Cagliari, which stood in the historic district of Stampace, following a lightning strike that struck the bell tower on November 1, 1871, causing very serious damage to the structure and making it impassable. Unfortunately, the projects for the recovery of the structure were not implemented and in 1875 the dramatic decision was taken to tear it down, to build new houses in the current Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. The destruction of the Church brought to the Pinacoteca a large number of precious altarpieces from the 15th and 16th centuries and other paintings of great value.
All the material collected was housed in Palazzo Belgrano, in the current Via Università, and in 1889 it was taken over by Filippo Vivanet, Commissioner of Museums and Excavations of Antiquities, and inventoried by Vincenzo Crespi, Curator of the Museum.
The pictorial collection, together with the archaeological finds that made up the first “Museum of Antiquities”, was transferred to the Palazzo Vivanet in Via Roma, but the exhibition space was immediately insufficient compared to the quantity and variety of the material preserved.
Following the need to find a location for the works, a new museum was designed by Dionigi Scano in the space previously occupied by the Royal Mint.
In 1904, the Royal Archaeological Museum was inaugurated in Independence Square.
The historical-artistic and ethnographic collections were exhibited in the rooms of the Palazzo delle Seziate, the building adjoining the Museum.
From 1955, in the area of the former Royal Arsenal, heavily damaged by the bombing of the Second World War, work began on the creation of the Citadel of Museums: a cultural hub that would house the University and other cultural institutions. The works, followed by the architects Libero Cecchini and Pietro Gazzola, have enhanced what remains of the ancient fortifications and military buildings of the Royal Arsenal, transforming the area into a place for exhibition and enjoyment, where the Archaeological Museum and the Pinacoteca are also housed since the 90s.
After a series of adaptation and installation works, the National Art Gallery was opened to the public on July 1, 1992.

Why it's important to visit it
The Cagliari Art Gallery is important above all for the opportunity to deepen the knowledge of Catalan and Sardinian painters, who worked on the island at the time of the Aragonese domination.

Plans and itineraries of the Pinacoteca Nazionale >>

Tag

Structure category: museum, gallery and/or collection

Content type: Arts

Usability: Closed

Province: Cagliari

Common: Cagliari

Macro Territorial Area: South Sardinia

POSTAL CODE: 09124

Address: piazza Arsenale, 1

Telephone: +39 070 655911

E-mail: man-ca@cultura.gov.it

Website: museinazionalicagliari.cultura.gov.it/musei/pinacoteca/?Category

Facebook: it-it.facebook.com/MuseoArcheoCA

Instagram: www.instagram.com/museoarcheoca

January - December

Monday - Wednesday - Thursday - Friday - Saturday - Sunday

08:30 AM - 7:30 PM

Information on tickets and access: The ticket office is located at the entrance of the Archaeological Museum and closes at 06:45 PM. Every first Sunday of the month, admission to the museum is free. More information at the following link: https://www.beniculturali.it/agevolazioni. Purchasing tickets online is possible by registering on this web page.

Access mode: For a fee

Tickets :

Integer : 19 €, grownups, .

Reduced : 5 €, , .

Reduced : 2 €, EU youth ticket between 18 and 25 years old and under, .

Freeware : 0 €, minors up to 18 years old, people with disabilities and caregivers, MiC staff, I.C.O.M. members, licensed EU tourist guides, groups of students from public and private schools in the EU, accompanied by their teachers, upon reservation, teachers and students of university courses from the following faculties: architecture, conservation of cultural heritage, education sciences or letters and philosophy with an archaeological or historical-artistic orientation, journalists through the exhibition of documents proving the professional activity carried out, personal Italian school teacher with a certificate issued by the educational institution, soldiers of the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit, .

Services information: Reservations are required for guided tours and educational workshops.

Other services: Route for the blind and visually impaired with tactile maps.

Update

4/3/2026 - 14:59

Services

Teaching room