The Belluno Treasure is an important
Lombardic hoard found at
Belluno
Belluno (; ; ) is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about north of Venice, Belluno is the Capital (political), capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomites region. W ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
in the nineteenth century that has been part of the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
's collection since 1897.
Discovery
The hoard was apparently found in a grave near the town of Belluno in the region of
Veneto
Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...
, northern
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. Dating to the late 6th or early 7th centuries AD, the rich grave group probably belonged to a female member of the
Lombardic court. It was later purchased by the curator and philanthropist
Augustus Franks, who bequeathed it to the British Museum in 1897.
British Museum Highlights
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Description
The Belluno Treasure is largely composed of gold and gem-encrusted jewellery. The style of decoration from the hoard reflect contemporary fashions in the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
. It includes two gold cross pendants (one with punched ornamentation), a gold and garnet cloisonné
Cloisonné () is an ancient technology, ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects with colored material held in place or separated by metal strips or wire, normally of gold. In recent centuries, vitreous enamel has been used, but inla ...
disc brooch, a finger-ring, a gold pin with a terminus in the form of a hand (which may have once held a pearl
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pear ...
), and gold beads.
Gallery
Image:Arte longobarda, da sutri, crocetta d'oro, fine VI-inizio VII sec.JPG, Gold cross, which indicates that the person buried was Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
Image:Arte longobarda, da sutri, spillone d'oro a forma di mano, fine VI-inizio VII sec.JPG, Gold pin with terminus in the shape of a small hand
Image:Arte longobarda, da sutri, anello d'oro, fine VI-inizio VII sec.JPG, Finger ring with punched decoration
Image:Arte longobarda, crocetta d'oro sbalzata, VII sec.JPG, Another cross from the hoard with perforated loop
See also
* Artres Treasure
*Domagnano Treasure
The Domagnano Treasure is an important Ostrogothic hoard found at Domagnano, Republic of San Marino in the late nineteenth century. The treasure is now divided among various institutions, including the Louvre Abu Dhabi, although the bulk of the h ...
* Sutri Treasure
* Bergamo Treasure
References
{{Reflist, 2
Further reading
*S. Marzinzik, Masterpieces: Early Medieval Art (London, British Museum Press, 2013)
*N. Christie, The Lombards (Oxford, Blackwell, 1995)
*A. Castagnetti and G.M. Varanini (eds.), Il Veneto nel medioevo. Dalla (Verona, Banco Popolare di Verona, 1989)
Medieval European objects in the British Museum
Medieval European metalwork objects
Treasure troves in Italy
Italy–United Kingdom relations
Gold objects
6th-century artifacts