Fodor's Expert Review Museo Diocesano Tridentino

Located inside the Palazzo Pretorio, the Museo Diocesano Tridentino is where you can see paintings and other objects that come from the treasury of the adjoining Cathedral of San Vigilio. This includes many carved wood altars and statues; an 11th-century sacramentary, or book of services; the seating plan of the prelates during the Council of Trent; and early-16th-century tapestries by Pieter van Aelst (1502–56), the Belgian artist who carried out Raphael's 15th-century designs for the Vatican tapestries. The palazzo itself was built in the 13th century and designed to seem like a wing of the Duomo; it became the fortified residence of the prince-bishops, who enjoyed considerable power and autonomy within the medieval hierarchy. The remarkable palazzo has lost none of its original splendor. Accessible through the museum, a subterranean archaeological area beneath the adjacent cathedral reveals remnants of the Early Christian Basilica of San Vigilio.