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Going up the stairs to the first floor, it is possible to visit the room dedicated to the Prato relic of the Sacred Girdle, Bernardo Daddi, Agnolo Gaddi and other 14th-century artists.
In the 14th century, the city's artistic scene was largely dominated by Giotto-influenced painters: In Prato, Giotto is credited with painting a panel for the church of San Domenico, which is now lost; his pupils Taddeo Gaddi and Maso di Banco are only credited with hypothetical commissions. However, Bernardo Daddi was entrusted with significant works, which are well documented in the museum collection.
For centuries, the Sacred Girdle has been the city's most precious treasure, becoming the centrepiece of artistic events and the foundation of its identity. In this environment, the video projection is highly suggestive and allows a close-up view of the cycle of frescoes dedicated to the arrival of the relic painted by Giotto-inspired artist, Agnolo Gaddi, in Prato Cathedral, through photographic images and video focusing on details, close-ups on significant details.
The Sacred Girdle story is a fascinating interweaving of truth and popular belief, art and devotion.
Legend has it that the Sacred Girdle (which was given to St Thomas by Our Lady during the Assumption), was brought to Prato from the Holy Land around 1141 by the merchant Michael and about thirty years later donated by him, at the point of death, to the founder of the parish church of St Stephen. Soon the relic became the object of extraordinary veneration. It was shown to popes, princes, distinguished figures, and was displayed in public to invoke Our Lady's intercession. Thanks to the Sacred Girdle, the Parish Church of Saint Stephen (now the Duomo) was transformed between the late 14th and the first half of the 15th century into a veritable workshop of beauty. This transformation was marked by remarkable artistic achievements of the era: Agnolo Gaddi’s frescoes in the chapel that still houses the relic; the extraordinary exterior pulpit crafted by Donatello and Michelozzo; and frescoes by two great masters of the Prato workshop, Paolo Uccello and Filippo Lippi.
It was also for the Duomo and the Sacred Girdle that many other artists were drawn to Prato over the centuries. The first of these artists was Bernardo Daddi, to whom we owe the earliest representation of this extraordinary event that has been passed down to us. Painted around 1337 for the Parish Church of Saint Stephen, the predella - with the Stories of the Sacred Girdle - is now among the masterpieces of the Museum's collection.
Even today, the five annual displays of the Sacred Girdle from Donatello's pulpit gather thousands of people in Piazza Duomo. This relic is kept in a coffer locked with three keys: one held by the canons of the cathedral, two by the municipality.
