The Museu Diocesà d’Urgell holds collections of frescoes, paintings on wood, sculpture, textiles, documents, works in gold and silver, liturgical vestments, and ecclesiastical objects of all kinds. These pieces, from all over the diocese of Urgell, are representative of the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles, and also from the 19th century. Among the notable pieces from the cathedral of Santa Maria’s Treasury are Bishop Galceran de Vilanova’s mass chalice and the 10th century Beatus de Liébana, a codex, or manuscript of the holy scriptures, kept in the cathedral chapter’s library.

The museum has its origin in a first temporary exhibition drawn from pieces in the cathedral’s Treasury mounted in 1957. The popular success of this initiative was the first step towards the creation of the museum. Over the next decades it took into its care works from churches throughout the diocese. In 1988 the museum was extended and remodelled to include what had been the office of the Dean. Nowadays more work is being done to bring the way the museum presents its collections up to date and to provide a compelling narrative in words and images with which explain the history of the cathedral complex.