National Archaeological Museum of Umbria

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The National Archaeological Museum of Umbria ( Italian Museo archeologico nazionale dell'Umbria ) is one of the most important Italian archaeological museums. It is located in Perugia .

The house was established in the former convent on the Basilica di San Domenico , which was built in the core south of the city wall of Perugia in the 13th century. Today's basilica was built next to it in the 15th century.

history

Etruscan funeral urn with kissing couple, including their wedding ceremony

The history of the museum goes back to the legacy of Count Francesco Filippo Friggeri of Perugin, who bequeathed his collection to his hometown in 1790. This was first exhibited in the Palazzo dei Priori .

The house owes numerous Etruscan exhibits to the first professor of archeology at the University of Perugia, Giovan Battista Vermiglioli (1769–1848), with the municipality and university sharing the management of the pieces and they are held in the Convento di Montemorcino , the seat of today's Università degli Studi di Perugia exhibited. Vermiglioli owes the house to important pieces such as the sarcophagus of Sperandio, the Cippo perugino or the bronzes of Castel S. Mariano. The Museo delle Antichità of the University of Perugia emerged from this collection.

The later archaeologists and holders of the local professorship Ariodante Fabretti (1846–1849), Giancarlo Conestabile (1850–1877), Giovan Battista Rossi Scotti (1877–1885) and Luigi Carattoli (1885–1894), all of whom came from the University of Perugin, bequeathed the house other exhibits from excavations and acquisitions, including prehistoric and Etruscan pieces from the property of Mariano Guardabassi (1823–1880).

After a short period of management by a commission, Giuseppe Bellucci became director of the house until his death in 1921. He was also rector of the university on several occasions. His heirs sold his prehistoric collection to the province and municipality as well as the state.

It was not until 1948 that the archaeological exhibits were brought together in the aforementioned convent. This happened under the direction of the director Umberto Calzoni , who ran the house from 1925 to 1958. Calzoni enriched the house above all with prehistoric artefacts from his excavations in Umbria, but also on the Tuscan Monte Cetona . In July 1938 the Museo Preistorico dell'Italia Centrale was opened; the Etruscan-Roman collection remained in the magazines at this time. The merger only succeeded after the Second World War. A meticulous description of the holdings was created by Walter Briziarelli, the management assistant.

In 1957 the exhibits passed from the property of the municipality to that of the state, which from 1960 was also responsible for the directorates. In 1964 the Soprintendenza alle Antichità dell'Umbria was created , the later Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell'Umbria . This brought further exhibits from various collections into the house, namely from a series of excavations under the leadership of the aforementioned Soprintendenza .

At that time, the prehistoric pieces were in a gallery in the entrance area, in a middle gallery, in eight halls and in the Salone dei Bronzi . The Etruscan-Roman museum, on the other hand, was located in the ground floor portico, in a gallery on the first floor of the monastery, the lapidario , and in numerous showcases in the Salone Archeologico . There was also the Gabinetto Numismatico and the so-called Depositario . These rooms served as magazines and were not open to the public. Initially, the building remained largely unaffected by the changes brought about by the state institutions, which resulted in a wider regional distribution of the museums. As a result of the 1997 earthquake, some of the halls had to be closed; Security and renovation measures were also necessary. In 1998 the (possibly reused) statue of Germanicus returned to Perugia after two decades of restoration, but under considerable pressure, in accordance with the efforts of the Soprintendenza, it was permanently loaned to the Museo Civico Archeologico di Amelia , with which the statue was taken to the place of discovery, namely Amelia returned in Terni Province .

In 2000 the Cutu tomb was reconstructed, which was discovered in Perugia in 1993. The concept corresponded to an idea that was also intended for the Germanicus statue, namely an exposition below the museum. In the same year, a separate department was created for the Bellucci collection, the most important and closed collection of amulets and magical objects in Italy.

In 2009, in the run-up to an exhibition about the Umbrians, the museum was restructured, because now the concept of the house under the new management of Soprintendenza under Mariarosaria Salvatore no longer followed access to individual collections, but rather a chronological principle. Nevertheless, thematic focal points were also established, especially in the monastery, the Chiostro Maggiore . There was also a new website in four languages. Without the local Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia , the funding of the Salvatore concept would not have been possible. To some extent, energy-saving measures also reduce costs. Both knowledge about the objects and general information can be called up via the local wireless network.

Exhibition structure ("visitor paths")

The exhibition concept envisages eight sections, which mostly follow a chronological order, but also aim to facilitate comparison.

The Chiostro Maggiore

In the Chiostro Maggiore and its cloister there are Etruscan urns and inscriptions from Roman times, which are exhibited in different rooms. Below is an inscription, which - after the destruction of the city by partisans Octavian ( Augustus ) in 41 BC. BC - on the occasion of the rebuilding of Perugia (Perusia restituta) . Also here is the important collection of amulets by Giuseppe Bellucci , then a numismatic collection that extends from the 3rd to the 19th century, gold jewelry, finally Etruscan finds from Castel San Mariano and finds from the tomb of Cacni, which result from a sequestration of looted cultural property of 2013.

From prehistory to the history of Perugia

Entrance to the prehistoric department

The sezione pre-protostorica , introduced with display boards and presentations of the strongly changing landscape forms, and accompanied by demonstrations from experimental archeology, offers exhibits from the Paleolithic , which in Umbria dates back 500,000 to 200,000 years. Among them are stone tools from the excavations on Monte Peglia ( San Venanzo , Province of Terni ), which refer to the presence of the Neanderthal man , who left traces especially around Perugia, Norcia and Gubbio . Around Perugia the open fields around the frazioni of the city, namely Pila, San Martino in Colle and Bosco, but then also the open fields of Badiola and San Biagio della Valle ( frazioni of Marsciano ) were productive. The most important traces of Homo sapiens were found around San Vito in Monte, a frazione of San Venanzo . The most important remains from the Epi- Gravettian period (around 13,000 to 11,000 BC) were found in the eight caves of Tane del Diavolo , on which Umberto Calzoni , who was director of the museum until 1958, worked.

This is followed by artifacts from the Neolithic , including ceramic pieces , and finally from the Bronze Age , here the pieces from the Cetona cave should be highlighted. From the Neolithic, finds protrude from the underground, labyrinthine complex of the Pozzi della Piana near Orvieto . It is a site that dates back to between the 6th and 5th millennium BC. It was visited by many groups in a wide area probably for religious reasons. The grave of San Biagio della Valle should be mentioned from the Copper Age , which can hardly be proven in Umbria; In addition, the museum offers arrow, spear and lance tips as well as daggers from older excavations.

The hall of the "Umbri ed Etruschi"

The Etruscan Department ( Salone Umbri-Etruschi ) deals with the Umbrians living in Umbria on the left side of the Tiber and the Etruscans on the right. This room, at the time still called Salone dei Bronzi , was used for the aforementioned Umbrer exhibition, which triggered the renovation of the house. The arrangement of the exhibits now reflects the territorial structure, insofar as the Etruscan pieces were placed on the right of the central corridor and the Umbrian pieces on the left. In this way the visitor can see both cultural strands from the 9th to the 2nd century BC in parallel. Follow.

The exhibition areas on the history of Perugia offer pieces from the necropolis, the sarcophagus of Sperandio from the 6th century BC. BC, plus Attic ceramics and other pieces, then the actual city history, beginning with the 8th century.

One of the central testimonies is an Etruscan alphabet carved on a Bucchero fragment . This was discovered during the construction work for the Palazzetto dello Sport in Via Pellini. This oldest alphabet in the city dates to the end of the 6th century BC. Chr.

Collections

The collections of the house include the Collezione Guardabassi , which consists of seals, then the Collezione Giuseppe Bellucci (prehistoric and prehistoric exhibits), the collection of the former museum director Umberto Calzoni from the Cetona caves. There are also individual items, such as a 40,000 year old bear skeleton from a 19th century collector.

The Cutu tomb

Reconstruction of the Cutu tomb from the 3rd to 1st century BC Chr.

From the Chiostro you can reach the underground reconstruction of the Tomba Cutu , a hypogeum that was discovered in 1983 not far from the Etruscan walls of Perugia in the Monteluce district. The corresponding objects are thus exhibited in an almost identical environment; this includes a sarcophagus and 52 urns belonging to the Cai Cutu family .

literature

  • Marco Saioni (Ed.): Invito al Museo. Percorsi, immagini, materiali del Museo Archeologico Nazionale dell'Umbria , Perugia 2009.
  • Dorica Manconi: Collezioni archeologiche e Musei di Perugia , in: Paolo Vitellozzi: Gemme e cammei della Collezione Guardabassi nel Museo Archeologico Nazionale dell'Umbria a Perugia , Viterbo 2010, pp. 13-28.
  • Marisa Scarpignato: Il Museo archeologico nazionale dell'Umbria di Perugia , in: Vincenzo Tiné, Loretta Zega (ed.): Archeomusei. Musei archeologici in Italia. 2001-2011. Atti del Convegno (Adria, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, 21–22 giugno 2012) , All'Insegna del Giglio, Florence 2013, pp. 69–72.

Web links

Commons : Museo archeologico nazionale dell'Umbria  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Francesco Imbimbo: Il Censimento dei Beni culturali , in: Direzione Generale Provincia di Perugia (ed.): Corrispondenze dall'Ottocento. Materiali e ricerche per la storia della provincia di Perugia , Perugia 2007, pp. 38–40, here: p. 40.
  2. ↑ Marco Saioni, Maria Cristina De Angelis (ed.): Ti mostrerò cose mai viste. Gli scavi di Belvedere nei diari di Umberto Calzoni , Perugia 2005.
  3. ↑ Matteo Cadario: Il linguaggio dei corpi nel ritratto romano , in: Eugenio La Rocca, Claudio Parisi Presicce, Annalisa Lo Monaco (ed.): Ritratti. Le tante facce del potere , exhibition catalog of the Musei Capitolini, Rome 2011, p. 228 f.
  4. ^ Anne Wolsfeld: The emperor in a tank. The visual representation of Nero and Domitian in comparison , in: Sophia Cordes, Lisa Schulz, Verena Wolsfeld, Anne Ziegert, Martin Bönisch-Meyer (eds.): Nero and Domitian. Media discourses on the representation of rulers in comparison , Narr, Tübingen 2014, pp. 181–216, here: p. 184.
  5. ↑ Paolo Bruschetti, Alberto Trombetta (Ed.): 1812-2012: I Principes di Castel San Mariano. Due secoli dopo la scoperta dei bronzi etruschi , Corciano 2013.
  6. ↑ Gabriele cifani: L'ipogeo dei Cacni a Perugia: cronologia e ideologia , in: La memoria ritrovata. Tesori recuperati dall'Arma dei Carabinieri, Catalogo della mostra (Roma, Palazzo del Quirinale, 23 gennaio - 16 March 2014) , Rome 2014, pp. 178-183. For the exhibition cf. this communication from the Ministero dei beni e della attività culturali e del turismo .
  7. ↑ Un santuario dell'Età del Bronzo: Le Tane del Diavolo , lecture by Maria Cristina De Angelis, July 19, 2013.
  8. ↑ A picture can be found here .
  9. ↑ Alessandra Minetti, Giulio Paolucci (ed.): Grandi archeologi del Novecento. Ricerche tra Preistoria e Medioevo nell'Agro Chiusino , Chiuso 2010, therein: Massimo Tarantini: Umberto Calzoni tra Preistoria, Protostoria ed Etruscologia , pp. 13-19 and Maria Teresa Cuda: Umberto Calzoni a Cetona , pp. 21-30.

Coordinates: 43 ° 6 ′ 24.8 ″  N , 12 ° 23 ′ 32.6 ″  E