() is an archaeology museum in

Chieti Chieti (, ; , nap, label= Abruzzese, Chjïétë, ; gr, Θεάτη, Theátē; lat, Theate, ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Central Italy, east by northeast of Rome. It is the capital of the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region. ...

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...

History, location and building

The seat of the museum is the former

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

Frigerj's

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

, which was built in around 1830 by the

Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...

architect Enrico Riccio and was sold to the ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' of

. The museum was founded thanks to Valerio Cianfarani, the local ''

soprintendenza The Ministry of Culture ( it, Ministero della Cultura - MiC) is the ministry of the Government of Italy in charge of national museums and the ''monuments historiques''. MiC's headquarters are located in the historic Collegio Romano Palace (via ...

s director, and the ''

'' of

, which sold the Frigerj residence to the State, and was inaugurated in the presence of President of the Italian Republic

Giovanni Gronchi Giovanni Gronchi, (; 10 September 1887 – 17 October 1978) was an Italian politician from Christian Democracy who served as the president of Italy from 1955 to 1962 and was marked by a controversial and failed attempt to bring about an "openi ...

, on 14 June 1959. The Neoclassical building is characterized by smoothly covered brick and by windows with

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s, and is surrounded by Villa comunale, Chieti's

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...

. The main entrance is the former passage for the

carriages A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

to the gallery of the ground floor, which is connected to the first floor through a monumental scissor staircase supported by Doric columns.

Collections

Popoli italici, stele del monte giove, con volto e iscrizione, IV secolo ac

The National Museum Villa Frigerj contains most of the most important archaeological finds of

from

Prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

Late antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

, including the ''

Warrior of Capestrano ''The Warrior of Capestrano'' is a tall limestone statue of a Picene warrior, dated to around the 6th century BC. The statue stands at around 2.09 m. It was discovered accidentally in 1934 by a laborer ploughing the field in the Italian town of Ca ...

'', which was shown to

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

during the

35th G8 summit The 35th G8 summit was held in L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy, on 8–10 July 2009. It was originally to be held at Sardinian seaside city of La Maddalena, but it was moved to L'Aquila as part of an attempt to redistribute disaster funds after the de ...

. In addition to the ''

'', on the ground floor are exposed Roman and pre-Roman sculptures, Roman iconographies, a

numismatic Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...

collection, and the Pansa collection. The first floor is focused on the history of four ancient peoples of Abruzzo: the

Vestini () were an Italic tribe who occupied the area of the modern Abruzzo (central Italy), included between the Gran Sasso and the northern bank of the Aterno river. Their main centres were ''Pitinum ''(near modern L'Aquila), ''Aufinum ''(Ofena), ''Pe ...

, the

Peligni The Paeligni or Peligni were an Italic tribe who lived in the Valle Peligna, in what is now Abruzzo, central Italy. History The Paeligni are first mentioned as a member of a confederacy that included the Marsi, Marrucini, and Vestini, with which t ...

, the Carricini, and the

Marrucini The Marrucini were an Italic tribe that occupied a small strip of territory around the ancient ''Teate'' (modern Chieti), on the east coast of Abruzzo, Italy, limited by the Aterno and Foro Rivers. Other Marrucinian centers included ''Ceio'' (San V ...

. Among the artifacts exposed, there are three

funerary stela A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), wh ...

with a paleosabellic inscription from Penna Sant'Andrea, aristocratic funeral beds of the cismontane Vestini people, a small bronze statue of

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

Curinus from a sanctuary on the slopes of Mount Morrone, a monumental

marble statue Marble has been the preferred material for stone monumental sculpture since ancient times, with several advantages over its more common geological "parent" limestone, in particular the ability to absorb light a small distance into the surface bef ...

of Hercules from Alba Fucens, the ''Stele of

Guardiagrele Guardiagrele (; Abruzzese: ; la, Guardia Graelis) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Chieti, part of the Abruzzo region of central Italy. It is in the foothills of the Maiella mountain at an elevation of around . Its population numbers ...

'' dated to the 7th century BC, the ''Torso of

Rapino Rapino is a ''comune'' (municipality) and town in the Province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in t ...

'' of the same age and the ''Lady of Capestrano'', which is a headless female statue discovered along with the ''

''. The

collection is composed by thousands of coins from the 4th century BC to the

Italian unification The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

, such as a rare golden coin bearing the face of

Galba Galba (; born Servius Sulpicius Galba; 24 December 3 BC – 15 January AD 69) was the sixth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 68 to 69. After his adoption by his stepmother, and before becoming emperor, he was known as Livius Ocella Sulpicius Ga ...

. The

private collection A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

, which was created by the lawyer and scholar Giovanni Pansa and donated in 1954, includes different bronze figures and other antiquities.

Gallery

File:Guerriero di Capestrano - Museo Archeologico Nazionale d'Abruzzo Villa Frigerj - Chieti - Italy - 6 Feb. 2013.jpg, The ''

'' File:Herakles Epitrapezios (Museo archeologico nazionale d'Abruzzo).jpg, The monumental marble statue of Hercules from Alba Fucens File:Hercules resting (Museo archeologico nazionale d'Abruzzo).jpg, The bronze statue of Hercules from the

Shrine of Hercules Curinus Shrine of Hercules Curinus was a Roman temple, the ruins of which are located in the comune of Sulmona, in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of ...

File:Museo archeologico nazionale d'Abruzzo 02.jpg, The ''Lady of Capestrano'' File:Collezione numismatica (Chieti).jpg, The numismatic collection File:Museo archeologico nazionale d'Abruzzo 05.jpg, Grave goods dated to the 6th century BC

Notes

External links

* {{Authority control Chieti Museums in Abruzzo Archaeological museums in Italy National museums of Italy