Museo Archeologico Nazionale Tarquiniense | |
Established | 1924 |
---|---|
Location | Piazza Cavour 1a, Tarquinia, Province of Viterbo, Lazio, Italy |
Coordinates | 42°15′13″N11°45′20″E / 42.25361°N 11.75556°E |
Type | Archaeological museum |
Director | Maria Gabriella Scapaticci |
Website | Official website |
The Tarquinia National Museum (Italian : Museo Archeologico Nazionale Tarquiniense) is an archaeological museum dedicated to the Etruscan civilization in Tarquinia, Italy. Its collection consists primarily of the artifacts which were excavated from the Necropolis of Monterozzi to the east of the city. It is housed in the Palazzo Vitelleschi.
The Palazzo Vitelleschi was built between 1436 and 1439 for the cardinal of Corneto, the former name of Tarquinia. After the cardinal's death the palace was used as stopover for the popes. 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. [1]
The Palazzo Vitelleschi has three floors. On the ground floor the sarcophagi, including the important Sarcophagus of Laris Pulenas, 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. [2]
The first floor shows the pottery in chronological order, starting with the Villanovan culture. Both the native Etruscan type of pottery called bucchero and imported pottery is on display here. Pottery dated to the Orientalizing period and onward was imported from Ancient Egypt, Phoenicia and Ancient Greece. Among these ceramics was the Bocchoris vase, which dates from the Ancient Egyptian 24th dynasty. Especially pottery from Corinth was imported in large quantities from the end of the seventh to the sixth century BC and imitated by the Etruscans. Some bronze tableware also dates to the Orientalizing period. After this comes the Attic black-figure and red-figure pottery from the fourth century BC, the Classical period. A collection of Etruscan bronze coins is exhibited in the ballroom. In the same room are later gold coins from the Roman Empire which were found at Gravisca, Tarquinia's ancient harbor, and gold jewelry. The first floor ends with a collection of votive offerings. [2]
The second floor is a square porch 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 Bigas, 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. [2]
Tarquinia, formerly Corneto, is an old city in the province of Viterbo, Lazio, Central Italy, known chiefly for its ancient Etruscan tombs in the widespread necropoleis, or cemeteries. Tarquinia was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site, acknowledging its exceptional contribution to our understanding of Etruscan civilization.
Cerveteri is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, in the Italian region of Lazio. Known by the ancient Romans as Caere, and previously by the Etruscans as Caisra or Cisra, and as Agylla by the Greeks, its modern name derives from Caere Vetus used in the 13th century to distinguish it from Caere Novum.
Vulci or Volci was a rich Etruscan city in what is now northern Lazio, central Italy.
The study of Roman sculpture is complicated by its relation to Greek sculpture. Many examples of even the most famous Greek sculptures, such as the Apollo Belvedere and Barberini Faun, are known only from Roman Imperial or Hellenistic "copies". At one time, this imitation was taken by art historians as indicating a narrowness of the Roman artistic imagination, but, in the late 20th century, Roman art began to be reevaluated on its own terms: some impressions of the nature of Greek sculpture may in fact be based on Roman artistry.
The Sarcophagus of the Spouses is a tomb effigy considered one of the masterpieces of Etruscan art. The Etruscans lived in Italy between two main rivers, the Arno and the Tiber, and were in contact with the Ancient Greeks through trade, mainly during the Orientalizing and Archaic Period. The Etruscans were well known for their terracotta sculptures and funerary art, largely sarcophagi and urns. The sarcophagus is a late sixth-century BCE Etruscan anthropoid sarcophagus that was found at the Banditaccia necropolis in Caere and is now located in the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, Rome.
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 púcaro.
Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 10th and 1st centuries BC. From around 750 BC it was heavily influenced by Greek art, which was imported by the Etruscans, but always retained distinct characteristics. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta, wall-painting and metalworking especially in bronze. Jewellery and engraved gems of high quality were produced.
The National Archaeological Museum of Florence is an archaeological museum in Florence, Italy. It is located at 1 piazza Santissima Annunziata, in the Palazzo della Crocetta.
The Tomb of the Bulls is an Etruscan tomb in the Necropolis of Monterozzi near Tarquinia, Lazio, Italy. It was discovered in 1892 and has been dated back to either 540–530 BC or 530–520 BC. According to an inscription Arath Spuriana apparently commissioned the construction of the tomb. It is named after the two bulls which appear on one of its frescoes. It is the earliest example of a tomb with complex frescoes in the necropolis, and the stylistic elements are derived from Ionian Greek culture. Along with the frescoes of the Tomb of the Whipping these paintings are relatively rare examples of explicit sexual scenes in Etruscan art, which were far more common in Ancient Greek art.
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The Monterozzi necropolis 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 chambers are decorated with frescos.
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The Tomb of the Triclinium ) is an Etruscan tomb in the Necropolis of Monterozzi dated to approximately 470 BC. The tomb is named after the Roman triclinium, a type of formal dining room, which appears in the frescoes of the tomb. It has been described as one of the most famous of all Etruscan tombs.
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Etruscan architecture was created between about 900 BC and 27 BC, when the expanding civilization of ancient Rome finally absorbed Etruscan civilization. The Etruscans were considerable builders in stone, wood and other materials of temples, houses, tombs and city walls, as well as bridges and roads. The only structures remaining in quantity in anything like their original condition are tombs and walls, but through archaeology and other sources we have a good deal of information on what once existed.
The Bocchoris vase is a ceramic container dating from ancient Egypt. It was found in 1895 in a tomb at Tarquinia, and is now in the National Museum at Tarquinia. The vessel, often also labelled as situla and made of Egyptian faience, bears an inscription with the names of the 24th Dynasty pharaoh Wahkare Bakenrenef who ruled about 720 to 715 BC. It shows the king between the Egyptian goddess Neith and the god Horus in the middle register, on one side and on the other between Horus and Thoth. In the lower register are shown Kushite prisoners between monkeys eating dates from palm trees, a depiction which was considered by Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson as racial propaganda. The vessel is an important evidence for long distance trade in the 9th and 8th century BC. It is furthermore of some importance for dating earlier phases of Etruscan culture in Italy. Because of the good preservation of the vessel, it has been argued that it came very shortly after it was made into the Etruscan tomb.
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