National Etruscan Museum

This page is about the museum. For the building housing the museum, see Villa Giulia
National Etruscan Museum
Museo Nazionale Etrusco

Facade of the Villa Giulia in Rome, home of the National Etruscan Museum.
Location of the museum in Rome
Established 1889
Location piazzale di Villa Giulia, 9 Rome, Italy
Type National museum
Sarcophagus of the Spouses, late 6th century BC.

The National Etruscan Museum (Italian: Museo Nazionale Etrusco) is a museum of the Etruscan civilization, housed in the Villa Giulia in Rome, Italy.

History

The villa was built for pope Julius III, for whom it was named. It remained in papal property until 1870, when, in the wake of the Risorgimento and the demise of the Papal States, it became the property of the Kingdom of Italy. The museum was founded in 1889 as part of the same nationalistic movement, with the aim of collecting together all the pre-Roman antiquities of Latium, southern Etruria and Umbria belonging to the Etruscan and Faliscan civilizations, and has been housed in the villa since the beginning of the 20th century.

Collections

The museum's most famous single treasure is the terracotta funerary monument, the almost life-size Bride and Groom (the so-called Sarcofago degli Sposi, or Sarcophagus of the Spouses), reclining as if they were at a dinner party.

Other objects held are:

References

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia.

Coordinates: 41°55′06″N 12°28′40″E / 41.918375°N 12.477657°E / 41.918375; 12.477657

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