Archaeological Museum of Paestum

National Archaeological Museum of Paestum

The project of the National Archaeological Museum of Paestum was born in 1938 when the architect Marcello De Vita designed a building intended to receive archaeological materials from excavations carried out in the city and in the Shrine of Hera near the mouth of the Sele. From this, in fact, come the 33 famous archaic metopes of the Thesauros, 18 of which dedicated to the deeds of Heracles. Because of the Second World War, the project was set aside and the finds remained in the Bishop's Palace, adjacent to the museum, which had hosted a small collection since the 18th century. In the early 1950's, the Italian State started to realize the De Vita’s project by favoring the construction of a part of the existing building, which was inaugurated on November 27, 1952, in the presence of the Honourable Member Antonio Segni. The central body, structured on two levels, was constructed in function of the found metopes, which were reassembled on the outer cornice of the same building, reconstructing ideally the ancient Thesauros. Given the enormous amount of finds, the building soon turned out to be insufficient, and in the early '60s, according to the design of the architect De Felice, a new and large hall was built, surrounded by a series of large windows that opened towards the city. In 1999, the Museum was reorganized to follow the historical and chronological evolution of the city, from the foundation of the Greek colony between the end of the seventh and the beginning of the sixth century B.C. until the establishment of the Latin colony. It illustrates the transformations in the social and public organization, religious rites, and aspects of everyday life, art and crafts. An introductory section reconstructs the history of the discovery of the archaeological site; another section is dedicated to prehistory. In the Museum are also exhibited great architectural fragments, terracotta decorations, Corinthian and ionic ceramics, bronze hydries, reconstruction of an underground sacello (resting place), a terracotta statue of Zeus and numerous painted slabs from Campania Region and Greece, including, among them, the famous series coming from the Diver Tomb (Tomba del Pescatore). In 2015, in the framework of the reform implemented by the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Tourism and Tourism, Dario Franceschini, the Paestum Archaeological Park is recognized as autonomous institute.