() is an archaeology museum in

Chieti Chieti (, ; , , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Southern Italy, east of Rome. It is the capital of the province of Chieti, in the Abruzzo, Abruzzo region. In Italian, the adjectival form is ''teatino'' and inhabitants of Chieti ar ...

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, ; ; , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; ), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km (4,156 sq mi) and a population of 1.3 million. It is divided into four ...

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 title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

Frigerj's

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

, which was built in around 1830 by the Neapolitan architect Enrico Riccio and was sold to the ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' of

. The museum was founded thanks to Valerio Cianfarani, the local '' soprintendenzas 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, 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 city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

. The main entrance is the former passage for the carriages to the gallery of the ground floor, which is connected to the first floor through a monumental scissor

staircase A stairwell or stair room is a room in a building where a stair is located, and is used to connect walkways between floors so that one can move in height. Collectively, a set of stairs and a stairwell is referred to as a staircase or stairway ...

supported by

Doric columns The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

Collections

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

from

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

Late antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

, including the '' Warrior of Capestrano'', which was shown to

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

during the 35th G8 summit. In addition to the '' Warrior of Capestrano'', 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 inclu ...

collection, and the Pansa collection. The first floor is focused on the history of four ancient peoples of Abruzzo: the Vestini, the Peligni, 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'' ( S ...

. Among the artifacts exposed, there are three funerary stela 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 of Hercules from Alba Fucens, the ''Stele of Guardiagrele'' dated to the 7th century BC, the ''Torso of Rapino'' of the same age and the ''Lady of Capestrano'', which is a headless female statue discovered along with the '' Warrior of Capestrano''. The

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

Italian unification The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of ...

, such as a rare golden coin bearing the face of Galba. 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 Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean such as the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt, and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures such as Ancient Persia (Iran). Artifact ...

Gallery

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