Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli | |
 Façade of the museum | |
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| Established | 1777; 248 years ago (1777) |
|---|---|
| Location | Piazza Museo 19,Naples, Italy |
| Coordinates | 40°51′13″N14°15′2″E / 40.85361°N 14.25056°E /40.85361; 14.25056 |
| Type | archaeology |
| Collections | Roman,Greek,Egyptian |
| Visitors | 500.000 (2017) |
| Director | Paolo Giulierini |
| Public transit access | Fermata Museo (Metropolitana linea 1) Fermata Piazza Cavour (Metropolitana linea 2) |
| Website | mann-napoli |
TheNational Archaeological Museum ofNaples (Italian:Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli,abbr.MANN) is an important Italian archaeological museum. Its collection includes works fromGreek,Roman andRenaissance times, and especially Romanartifacts from the nearbyPompeii,Stabiae andHerculaneum sites. From 1816 to 1861, it was known as theRoyal Bourbon Museum (Italian:Real Museo Borbonico).
The building was built as a cavalry barracks in 1585. From 1616 to 1777, it was the seat of theUniversity of Naples. During the 19th century, after it became a museum, it suffered many changes to the main structure.
The museum hosts extensive collections of Greek and Roman antiquities. Their core is from theFarnese Collection, which includes a collection ofengraved gems (including theFarnese Cup, aPtolemaic bowl made of sardonyxagate and the most famous piece in the "Treasure of the Magnificent", and is founded upon gems collected byCosimo de' Medici andLorenzo il Magnifico in the 15th century) and the Farnese Marbles. Among the notable works found in the museum are theMenologium Rusticum and theHerculaneum papyri, carbonized by the eruption ofMount Vesuvius, found after 1752 inVilla of the Papyri.
The greater part of the museum's classical sculpture collection largely comes from the Farnese Marbles, important since they include Roman copies of classical Greek sculpture, which are in many cases the only surviving indications of what the lost works by ancient Greek sculptors such asCalamis,Kritios andNesiotes looked like. Many of these works, especially the larger ones, have been moved to theMuseo di Capodimonte for display in recent years.
A major collection of ancient Roman bronzes from theVilla of the Papyri is housed at the museum. These include theSeated Hermes, a sprawlingDrunken Satyr, a bust ofThespis, another variously identified asSeneca[1] orHesiod,[2] and a pair of exceptionally lively runners.
The museum'sMosaic Collection includes a number of importantmosaics recovered from the ruins ofPompeii and the other Vesuvian cities. This includes theAlexander Mosaic, dating fromc. 100 BC, originally from theHouse of the Faun in Pompeii. It depicts a battle between the armies ofAlexander the Great and Darius III of Persia. Another mosaic found is that of the gladiatorial fighter depicted in a mosaic found from the Villa of the Figured Capitals in Pompeii.
The museum houses a large collection of frescoes fromPompeii andHerculaneum.
With 2,500 objects,[3] the museum has one of the largest collection ofEgyptian artifacts in Italy, smaller only than those inTurin,Florence andBologna. It is made up primarily of works from two private collections, assembled by CardinalStefano Borgia in the second half of the 18th century, and Picchianti in the first years of the 19th. Since the recent rearrangement of the galleries, these two cores of the collection have been exhibited separately, while other items are on display in the connecting room, including Egyptian and "pseudo-Egyptian" artefacts from Pompeii and other Campanian sites. The collection provides an important record of Egyptian civilization from theOld Kingdom (2700-2200 B.C.) up to the Ptolemaic-Roman era.[4]
TheSecret Cabinet (Gabinetto Segreto) (Gabbinete) orSecret Room is the name the Bourbon Monarchy gave the private rooms in which they held their fairly extensive collection of erotic or sexual items, mostly deriving from excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Access was limited to only persons ofmature age and known morals. The rooms were also calledCabinets of matters reserved orobscene orpornographic. After the revolution of 1848, the government of the monarchy even proposed the destruction of objects, fearful of the implications of their ownership, which would tarnish the monarchy with lasciviousness. The then director of the Royal Bourbon Museum instead had access to the collection terminated, and the entrance door was provided with three different locks, whose keys were held respectively by the Director of the Museum, the Museum Controller, and the Palace Butler. The highlight of the censorship occurred in 1851 when even nude Venus statues were locked up, and the entrance walled up in the hope that the collection would vanish from memory.
In September 1860, when the forces ofGaribaldi occupied Naples, he ordered that the collection be made available for the general public to view. Since the Royal Butler was no longer available, they broke into the collection. Limiting viewership and censorship have always been part of the history of the collection. Censorship was restored during the era of the Kingdom of Italy, and peaked during the Fascist period, when visitors to the rooms needed the permission of the Minister of National Education in Rome. Censorship persisted in the postwar period up to 1967, abating only after 1971 when the Ministry was given the new rules to regulate requests for visits and access to the section. Completely rebuilt a few years ago with all of the new criteria, the collection was finally opened to the public in April 2000. Visitors under the age of 14 can tour the exhibit only with an adult.
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![The Menologium Rusticum Colotianum, an ancient Roman almanac[5][6]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aCIL_VI_2305_-_Menologium_Rusticum_Colotianum_05_Iul-Sep_Oct-Dec.jpg)
