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Museo Archeologico Regionale Antonino Salinas | |
 "Agorà" courtyard | |
  Location within Italy | |
| Established | 1873 |
|---|---|
| Location | Via Bara all'Olivella 24,Palermo,Italy |
| Coordinates | 38°07′15″N13°21′38″E / 38.12083°N 13.36056°E /38.12083; 13.36056 |
| Collection size | Archeology |
| Website | www |
TheAntonino Salinas Regional Archeological Museum (Italian:Museo Archeologico Regionale Antonino Salinas) is a museum inPalermo,Italy. It possesses one of the richest collections ofPunic andAncient Greek art in Italy, as well as many items related to thehistory of Sicily. Formerly the property of theOratory of Saint Philip Neri, the museum is named afterAntonino Salinas, an archaeologist and numismatist from Palermo, who had served as its director from 1873 until his death in 1914, upon which he left it his major private collection. It is part of the Olivella monumental complex, which includes the Church ofSant'Ignazio all'Olivella and the adjoining Oratory.
The construction of the Olivella complex began in the late 16th century by the architect Antonio Muttone for the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri and was completed in the 17th century. Following the law on the suppression of religious orders of 1866, the building was confiscated and became home to the museum.[citation needed]
During theSecond World War, the director of the museum,Jole Bovio Marconi, moved all the material held in the museum to theAbbey of San Martino delle Scale nearMonreale. This saved the collection from destruction by the bombing during theAllied invasion of Sicily. In 1949, Bovio Marconi was made responsible for the redevelopment of the museum, as the building was heavily damaged. The building was renovated by architect William De Angelis D'Ossat.[citation needed] From 18 July 2011, the museum has been closed for renovation. As of September 2015, only a small part of the museum is accessible free of charge. In May 2022, only the Museum's first floor is open to the public. It is uncertain when the full exhibition will be reopened.
On the ground floor, a section is dedicated to the artefacts foundunderwater, including materials that were part of the cargo of vessels, stone anchors, strains of lead, lamps,amphoras, and inscriptions ranging from the culture of the Phoenicians to that of the Romans.
The Phoenician section displays two largeanthropomorphicsarcophagi of the 5th century BC from the necropolis of Pizzo Cannita (near modernMisilmeri). There are also sculptures of gods and Phoenician votivestelae fromMozia andLilybaeum.
A reconstruction of the east pediment of the archaeological site ofSelinunte is exhibited, displaying theGorgon of Temple C, several metopes with mythological reliefs (Temples C and E), and sculptures of thearchaic andclassical period. In 1823, two British architects,Samuel Angell and William Harris, ventured to excavate at Selinunte in the course of their tour of Sicily, and came upon many fragments of sculptured metopes from the Archaic temple now known as "Temple C". Although local officials tried to stop them, they continued their work and attempted to export their finds to England, destined for theBritish Museum. Now in the shadow of the activities ofLord Elgin, Angell and Harris's shipments were diverted to Palermo, where they remain to this day in the Archaeological Museum.
Artifacts fromHimera are on display, as well as objects and sculptures fromSolunto,Megara Hyblaea,Tindari,Kamarina, andAgrigento. Among the most important works of art are the great Ram bronze of the third century BC from Syracuse, a Roman copy of a sculpture byLysippus depictingHeracles catching theCeryneian Hind and a Roman copy of a marble statue byPraxiteles depicting asatyr.
The Roman period is documented by a collection of sculptures and mosaics found in villas from Piazza Vittoria in Palermo, where the center of the Roman city was previously located. Even prehistoric cultures present in the caves around the territory of Palermo are exhibited in the museum.
The museum is composed in part by private collections purchased or donated to the museum over the centuries. It also includes thePalermo stone, a portion of a large ancient Egyptian stelae.[1][2][3]
This is the oldest collection of the museum, which was acquired in 1814 whenGiuseppe Emanuele Ventimiglia, Prince ofBelmonte, left his collection to theUniversity of Palermo at his death. The university in turn sold it to the museum.[citation needed][clarification needed]
Left to the museum in 1914, this collection is the largest in size with 6, 641 pieces and led to the museum being renamed after Salinas. The collection consists of books, manuscripts, prints, photographs, personal items, and about 6,000 coins.[citation needed]
This is theEtruscan collection, which consists of sarcophagi, gravestones, urns, and Atticblack andred-figure pottery. It is considered the most important Etruscan collection outside ofTuscany. The exhibits come fromChiusi as part of the excavations carried out in the estates of Count Pietro Bonci Casuccini.
The collection was put up for sale by the grandsons of the founder, Ottavio and Pietro. The sale of the collection was prevented by the Kingdom of Italy in 1863, by the intervention ofMichele Amari, who was Minister of Education at the time. The state acquired the collection and transferred it to the Regional Archeological Museum of Palermo.[4]
In 2022, the Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum returned permanently to Athens a small fragment of the Parthenon.[5] Thisfragment of the foot of the goddessArtemis had been sold to theUniversity of Palermo by the widow of the British consulRobert Fagan.[6] According to legal scholarCatharine Titi, there is no clear explanation of how Fagan obtained the fragment: although it is possible that the fragment may originally have gone "astray" fromElgin's collection, in reality how it "came to be in Fagan’s possession is, frankly, anyone’s guess".[6]
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