National Etruscan Museum

National Etruscan Museum
Museo Nazionale Etrusco
Facade of the Villa Giulia in Rome, home of the National Etruscan Museum.
Established	1889
Location	Rome, Italy
Type	National museum

This page is about the museum. For the building housing the museum, see Villa Giulia

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 by the popes and remained their 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

Sarcophagus of the Spouses, late 6th century BC.

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:

• The Etruscan-Phoenician Pyrgi Tablets
• The Apollo of Veii
• The Cista Ficoroni
• A reconstructed frieze displaying Kreugas eating the brain of his enemy
• The Tita Vendia vase

Sources

• Moretti, Anna Maria Sgubini, ed (2001). The Villa Giulia National Etruscan Museum: Short Guide. Roma: "L'Erma" di Bretschneider; Ingegneria per la cultura. ISBN 88-8265-012-X. http://books.google.com/books?id=ljCiHdGkKSEC. 

External links

• Museo Nazionale Etrusco information (Italian)