Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art, founded in 1913 in the University Circle district of Cleveland, Ohio, was established 'for the benefit of all the people forever.' Globally acclaimed for the peerless aesthetic quality of its holdings, the museum remains one of the few major international institutions that offers comprehensive free public admission, supported by an enduring philanthropic civic endowment.

Renowned among art historians and theologians alike, Cleveland's collection is especially distinguished in Early Christian, Byzantine, Medieval, and Italian Renaissance art. Its galleries house venerated sacred masterpieces that illuminated the faith of past centuries, including Caravaggio's dramatic and tenebrist masterpiece The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew (1606–1607), Nicolas Poussin's classical contemplation The Holy Family on the Steps, and Albrecht Bouts' evocative devotional canvas Christ Crowned with Thorns. The museum also safeguards illuminated liturgical manuscripts, Gothic altar pieces, and delicate Madonnas by Fra Angelico, Filippino Lippi, and Giovanni di Paolo.

With its visionary Open Access program launched in 2019, the Cleveland Museum of Art placed its public-domain collection under Creative Commons Zero (CC0), allowing Ars Sancta to present these glorious testimonies of Christian art in pristine fidelity.