Museo archeologico nazionale, Archaeological museum in Palazzo Barberini, Palestrina, Italy
The Museo Archeologico Nazionale is an archaeological museum in Palestrina, central Italy, housed inside Palazzo Barberini, a building constructed over the remains of the ancient Fortuna Primigenia Sanctuary. The collection spans three floors and brings together portraits, statuettes, reliefs, and other objects found in and around the Roman city of Praeneste.
The museum opened in 1956 inside Palazzo Barberini, a 17th-century noble residence built directly over the terraced sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, which dates back to the 2nd century BC. Many of the objects on display were recovered during excavations in Praeneste that began in the 19th century.
The museum displays bronze mirrors with mythological scenes and terracotta votive offerings once left at the sanctuary. These objects show directly how the people of ancient Praeneste practiced their religion and what they brought as offerings.
The museum sits inside Palazzo Barberini in the center of Palestrina, reached by walking up through the town from the lower streets. An elevator connects all three floors, and visiting in the morning tends to give you more space to move around at your own pace.
The top floor displays a large mosaic showing a Nile flood scene with animals, boats, and Egyptian landscapes, made in the 1st century BC. It is one of the few Hellenistic mosaics of this size to have survived, and it was found in Praeneste itself.
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