Museo Arqueológico de Cabra, museo, patrimonio histórico de Andalucía de importancia arquitectónica en Cabra, España
The Museo Arqueológico de Cabra is a municipal museum housed in the Casa de la Cultura. Its rooms display prehistoric finds from the caves of Mina de Jarcas and Fuente del Río, Iberian objects from Cerro de la Merced, Roman mosaics and sculptures from the Villa del Mitra, and the grave goods of the La Benita necropolis. A reconstruction of a mithraeum was added in 2015.
The accidental discovery of the Roman Villa del Mitra in 1952 led to the transfer of its most famous piece, the Mitra de Cabra, to the Archaeological Museum of Córdoba because Cabra had no municipal museum. After new mosaics and statues appeared at the same site in 1972, the Ministry of Education and Science approved the creation of the Museo Arqueológico de Cabra on 15 January 1973. It finally opened to the public on 23 June 1992 in the Casa de la Cultura. A restoration closed it from December 2008 until its reopening on 28 February 2015, when a mitreo recreation and a video room were added.
The museum's name comes from the Roman Villa del Mitra, whose mosaics and sculptures were found in 1952 and 1972. A reconstruction of a mitreo, the space for the cult of the god Mithras, was added in 2015. The Orientalizing ceramics, seven urns and an amphora from the 7th–6th centuries BC, were bought in 2000 for 6 million pesetas.
The museum occupies the Casa de la Cultura and reopened on 28 February 2015 after a restoration begun in December 2008, which added step-free access, a recreated mithraeum and a video room. The collection is fully reorganised by period, from prehistory to the medieval era, so a visit follows a chronological route.
The Niño con liebre, a Roman fountain figure whose hare has a circular hole in its mouth for water, belonged for years to the family of José Solís Ruiz, a Franco-era minister from Cabra. The museum acquired it in 2014, and it has been on display since the reopening of 28 February 2015.
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