Description
The Francesco Ribezzo Provincial Archaeological Museum in Brindisi, on Piazza Duomo, gathers what the subsoil of the city and the province has given back, from the Messapians to the Romans. The stars are the bronzes recovered from the sea, but there is much more: Greek vases, statues, mosaics and inscriptions.
It is named after the archaeologist and linguist Francesco Ribezzo (1875-1952). It opened in 1958 in the spaces of the old hospital next to the Cathedral, while before the civic collection was kept in the church of San Giovanni al Sepolcro. Finds that emerged during works in the old town and in the towns of the province also went into it.
The entrance is the Templars' portico, completed in 1954 with a section in matching style. Beneath it are bronze anchor stocks, sarcophagi, stelae and medieval capitals, including an early medieval one with dancing figures. Behind, a little courtyard with altars and inscriptions.
On the ground floor, in the Marzano room, the display cases show ceramics, small bronzes, oil lamps, glass and coins. Standing out are the trozzella vases, typical of the Messapians, and the Apulian red-figure kraters of the fourth century BC, with Dionysian scenes. On the upper floors, the prehistoric section and the Attic and Italiot vases.
In the Roman section is the headless statue of Clodia Anthianilla, a woman of letters from Brindisi of the second century, with the long funerary eulogy on the base. On the floor, a large Labyrinth mosaic with Theseus fighting the Minotaur.
The highlight is in the underwater archaeology room. On July 19, 1992 a diver went down off Punta del Serrone, two miles north of the port, and at a depth of 16 meters found a bronze foot. In the following weeks the seabed gave back two hundred fragments over about 300 square meters.
They were the cargo of a ship, caught in a storm and perhaps lightened to save itself.
Probably the statues, already dismembered, were destined for a foundry, to be melted down. After a long restoration the Bronzes of Punta del Serrone are once again on view: a Roman consul, Lucius Aemilius Paullus, heads of philosophers, a man in a toga and a face that looks very much like Caracalla.
In the same stretch of sea another big bronze foot had already been fished out in 1972.
Don't miss
• The Bronzes of Punta del Serrone.
• The trozzella vases and the red-figure kraters.
• The statue of Clodia Anthianilla.
• The Labyrinth mosaic.
• The Templars' portico.
Did you know?
• Pliny mentioned Brindisi for its bronze mirrors, and perhaps the word bronze comes precisely from "aes brundisium."
• The statue of the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus was put back together from two pieces, the torso and the head, found in two different places on the seabed.
It is named after the archaeologist and linguist Francesco Ribezzo (1875-1952). It opened in 1958 in the spaces of the old hospital next to the Cathedral, while before the civic collection was kept in the church of San Giovanni al Sepolcro. Finds that emerged during works in the old town and in the towns of the province also went into it.
The entrance is the Templars' portico, completed in 1954 with a section in matching style. Beneath it are bronze anchor stocks, sarcophagi, stelae and medieval capitals, including an early medieval one with dancing figures. Behind, a little courtyard with altars and inscriptions.
On the ground floor, in the Marzano room, the display cases show ceramics, small bronzes, oil lamps, glass and coins. Standing out are the trozzella vases, typical of the Messapians, and the Apulian red-figure kraters of the fourth century BC, with Dionysian scenes. On the upper floors, the prehistoric section and the Attic and Italiot vases.
In the Roman section is the headless statue of Clodia Anthianilla, a woman of letters from Brindisi of the second century, with the long funerary eulogy on the base. On the floor, a large Labyrinth mosaic with Theseus fighting the Minotaur.
The highlight is in the underwater archaeology room. On July 19, 1992 a diver went down off Punta del Serrone, two miles north of the port, and at a depth of 16 meters found a bronze foot. In the following weeks the seabed gave back two hundred fragments over about 300 square meters.
They were the cargo of a ship, caught in a storm and perhaps lightened to save itself.
Probably the statues, already dismembered, were destined for a foundry, to be melted down. After a long restoration the Bronzes of Punta del Serrone are once again on view: a Roman consul, Lucius Aemilius Paullus, heads of philosophers, a man in a toga and a face that looks very much like Caracalla.
In the same stretch of sea another big bronze foot had already been fished out in 1972.
Don't miss
• The Bronzes of Punta del Serrone.
• The trozzella vases and the red-figure kraters.
• The statue of Clodia Anthianilla.
• The Labyrinth mosaic.
• The Templars' portico.
Did you know?
• Pliny mentioned Brindisi for its bronze mirrors, and perhaps the word bronze comes precisely from "aes brundisium."
• The statue of the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus was put back together from two pieces, the torso and the head, found in two different places on the seabed.