Unique in Italy and in Europe for its design and location, the City Museum, set up in a monastic complex of Lombard origin, allows a journey through the history, art and spirituality of Brescia from the prehistoric age to today in a exhibition area of approximately 14,000 square meters.
The monastery of San Salvatore - Santa Giulia was founded in 753 AD da Desiderio, last king of the Lombards, with his wife Ansa. Feminine, as a rule Benedictine, she played a leading role even after the defeat inflicted on the Lombards by Charlemagne.
A place of historical memories stratified over the centuries and a continuous source of surprising discoveries, the monastic complex is a visible interweaving of eras. Built on an area already occupied in Roman times by important Domus, it includes the Lombard Basilica of San Salvatore and its crypt, the Romanesque oratory of Santa Maria in Solario, the Coro delle Monache, the sixteenth-century church of Santa Giulia and the cloisters.