The principle museum of Umbria is numbered among the major national cultural centres. Since 1878 it has been housed on the upper floors of the historic Palazzo dei Priori, a splended example of civil gothic architecture.
The origin of the collection is due to the institution and activity of the Academy of Drawing, founded in Perugia in the second half of the XVI century. A large increase in the collection was determined by the acquisition of the artistic patrimony of the Religious Guilds, following the suppression by the French government at the end of the XVIII century and renewed by the Italian authorities after 1860.
Further donations and acquisitions have increased it so that now it presents itself as the most complete and comprehensive museum collection in Umbria for the number and variety of artistic work produced from the XIII to XIX centuries.
The prestige which it enjoys is increased by the presence of works by the Master of San Francesco, Arnolfo di Cambio, Duccio di Boninsegna, Gentile da Fabriano, Agostino di Duccio, Piero della Francesca, Beato Angelico, il Pinturicchio, protagonists of medieaval and renaissance art, but above all by the exceptional nucleus of  paintings by Perugino and his principle pupils and followers.
There are also artistic works from the early baroque period such as Orazio, Gentileschi, Pietro da Cortona and Valentin de Boulogne, and valuable examples of paintings from 1700’s in the works of Sebastiano Conca, Pierre Subleyras, Corrado Giaquinto, Antonio Amorosi.
The numerous examples of cloth, gold, tools for making wafers, arms and ceramics   provide a valuable testimony of the Umbrian artisan tradition and complete the rich collection.
The recent change in the design of the museum, inaugurated the summer of 2002, has married the display requirements to the appreciation of the monumental spaces of the Palazzo dei Priori.
In the occasion of this large exhibition dedicated to Perugino, the National Gallery will be further enlarged by new rooms on the second floor, thereby offering the public some rooms of great architectural interest, previously destined for council offices. In particular, the section on drawings will be displayed in the old Priory Refectory that, restored to its original aspect, has been enriched by the discovery of frescoes from the renaissance period.