The Tarquinia National Museum ( it, Museo Archeologico Nazionale Tarquiniense) is an
archaeological museum
An archaeology museum is a museum that specializes in the display of archaeological
Types
Many archaeology museum are in the open air, such as the Ancient Agora of Athens and the Roman Forum. Others display artifacts inside buildings, such as ...
dedicated to the
Etruscan civilization
The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, roug ...
in
Tarquinia,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. Its collection consists primarily of the artifacts which were excavated from the
Necropolis of Monterozzi
The Monterozzi necropolis ( it, Necropoli dei Monterozzi) is an Etruscan necropolis on a hill east of Tarquinia in Lazio, Italy. The necropolis has about 6,000 graves, the oldest of which dates to the 7th century BC. About 200 of the tomb chamb ...
to the east of the city. It is housed in the Palazzo Vitelleschi.
History
The Palazzo Vitelleschi was built between 1436 and 1439 for the
cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...
of Corneto, the former name of Tarquinia. After the cardinal's death the palace was used as stopover for the
pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
s. Over time the Soderini family became its new owner and it was turned into a hotel. In 1900 it was acquired by the city of Tarquinia, which donated it to the Italian state in 1916. The state intended to use the palace for the current museum, which opened in 1924. It was the result of the merger of the Municipal Collection and the private collection of the counts Bruschi-Falgari. Over the time the collection was enriched by the numerous finds from the ancient city of Tarquinia and the
Necropolis of Monterozzi
The Monterozzi necropolis ( it, Necropoli dei Monterozzi) is an Etruscan necropolis on a hill east of Tarquinia in Lazio, Italy. The necropolis has about 6,000 graves, the oldest of which dates to the 7th century BC. About 200 of the tomb chamb ...
.
Collection
The Palazzo Vitelleschi has three floors. On the ground floor the
sarcophagi
A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...
and other stone artifacts from the middle of the fourth century BC are exhibited in chronological order. The most notable sarcophagi which belonged to the most important Tarquinian families are seen in the tenth room. Some of these were carved from Greek
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
.
The first floor shows the
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
in chronological order, starting with the
Villanovan culture
The Villanovan culture (c. 900–700 BC), regarded as the earliest phase of the Etruscan civilization, was the earliest Iron Age culture of Italy. It directly followed the Bronze Age Proto-Villanovan culture which branched off from the Urnfiel ...
. Both the native Etruscan type of pottery called
bucchero
Bucchero () is a class of ceramics produced in central Italy by the region's pre-Roman Etruscan population. This Italian word is derived from the Latin ''poculum'', a drinking-vessel, perhaps through the Spanish ''búcaro'', or the Portuguese ' ...
and imported pottery is on display here. Pottery dated to the
Orientalizing period and onward was imported from
Ancient Egypt,
Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...
and
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cu ...
. Among these ceramics was the
Bocchoris vase, which dates from the Ancient Egyptian
24th dynasty. Especially pottery from
Corinth
Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part ...
was imported in large quantities from the end of the seventh to the sixth century BC and imitated by the Etruscans. Some
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...
tableware also dates to the Orientalizing period. After this comes the
Attic
An attic (sometimes referred to as a ''loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...
black-figure
Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic ( grc, , }), is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, although there are ...
and
red-figure pottery
Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Greek vase painting.
It developed in Athens around 520 BCE and remained in use until the late 3rd century BCE. It replaced the previously dominant style of black-figure va ...
from the fourth century BC, the
Classical period. A collection of Etruscan bronze coins is exhibited in the
ballroom
A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic ...
. In the same room are later gold coins from the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
which were found at
Gravisca, Tarquinia's ancient harbor, and gold jewelry. The first floor ends with a collection of
votive offering
A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...
s.
The second floor is a square
porch
A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...
which offers a view over the city and the countryside. This floor houses some of the restored paintings from the tombs of the Necropolis of Monterozzi. The tombs are the
Tomb of the Triclinium
The Tomb of the Triclinium ( it, Tomba del Triclinio) ). is an Etruscan tomb in the Necropolis of Monterozzi (near Tarquinia, Italy) dated to approximately 470 BC. The tomb is named after the Roman ''triclinium'', a type of formal dining ...
, the
Tomb of the Bigas
A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immuremen ...
, the
Tomb of the Olympic Games and the
Tomb of the Ship. In the hall of weapons the "Cavalli Alati" are exhibited, a relief of a pair of winged horses. They once decorated the
Ara della Regina, an Etruscan temple in Tarquinia which dates to the fourth century BC.
See also
*
National Etruscan Museum
References
External links
*
Official website
{{authority control
Archaeological museums in Italy
Etruscans museums in Italy
Museums established in 1924
National museums of Italy
Monterozzi necropolis
Tarquinia
Villanovan culture
Museums in Lazio