An ex voto is a work, usually pictorial, commissioned by a private individual and intended to be displayed either in the home or in a public space within a church (a chapel, a nave, etc.). A genuine expression of popular devotion, it commemorates a danger escaped, a fear averted, a prayer answered.
The diocesan museum displays many such works, often connected to the history of the local area: they do not feature famous figures, symbolic episodes or major historical events, but rather scenes from everyday life experienced directly by individuals, families or entire communities.
This is the case of “L’Incendio di Cimolais”, an oil painting from the Friuli area, datable to around 1719. The canvas shows a highly dramatic scene at the moment of divine intervention: flames threaten the houses, while a procession led by a priest moves through the streets to invoke help. Above, two angels hold a cross: the sign of grace received. The bird’s-eye view allows a detailed reading of the settlement of Cimolais — an urban form now lost, also as a result of the fire depicted in the painting.
