National Archaeological Museum and Archaeological Area of Luni: Roman Luna and Its Excavated Remains
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Classical
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Classical
- Civilizations
- Roman
- Site type
- Museum
On this page15 sections
History
The National Archaeological Museum and Archaeological Area of Luni is an archaeological museum and Roman urban site in Italy, established and officially opened in 1964 at Luni. The museum stands within the archaeological area of ancient Luna and preserves finds recovered through excavations of the city. Together, the museum and its surrounding remains present evidence of religious, residential, commercial, and public life in the Roman settlement.
The museum and its collections
The museum operates as a distributed system, with its main exhibition building and several thematic sections placed among the ancient monuments and archaeological remains. Its collections include sculpture and portraits, ceramics, coins, glass and bronze objects used in everyday life and personal grooming, architectural decoration, mosaics, frescoes, and inscriptions. A first-floor educational reconstruction of Lunensian houses, using original materials, was prepared for school groups.
Modern administration
The museum holds Italian national-heritage status. Since December 2014, it has been managed by the Ministry of Culture through the Ligurian Museum Centre, a state body responsible for museums and cultural sites in the region. In December 2019, that administrative body became the Regional Museums Directorate.
Ancient Luna
The archaeological area preserves the remains of a Roman city whose buildings and installations served religious, domestic, commercial, and civic purposes. Its recorded features include the Capitolium, a principal temple dedicated to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, the Great Temple, private luxury residences, the Forum, commercial premises, an amphitheatre, baths, and a theatre.
Remains
The museum and archaeological area form a connected but distributed presentation of ancient Luna. The physical remains include streets, religious buildings, houses, commercial rooms, and public entertainment and bathing structures. The main museum exhibition groups excavated material by subject, while other sections stand among the ancient buildings and along the urban route.
Museum exhibition sections
The statuary and portraiture, ceramics, coin, everyday-object, and toilet-equipment sections display the material recovered from Luna. Objects made of glass and bronze are included alongside architectural decoration, while mosaics, frescoes, and inscriptions preserve evidence of the decoration and public history of the city.
Sacred architecture
The sacred-architecture section presents decorative elements from the Capitolium, the temple of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. It also contains a substantial fragment of a Republican-period pavement made in opus signinum, or crushed pottery and tile set in mortar. Antefixes, decorative roof elements that concealed the ends of roof tiles, depict Persian Artemis and come from the Great Temple.
Private houses
The private-architecture section contains mosaics and frescoes from three notable luxury residences of ancient Luna: the House of Mosaics, the House of Frescoes, and the House of Ocean. The archaeological area also includes the House of Mosaics and the northern house, linking the displayed decoration with the urban remains.
Inscriptions
The lapidary, or display of inscribed stone and other materials, contains marble and bronze inscriptions connected with the history of Luna. A bronze-sheet inscription gives the names of the two magistrates who commissioned and approved the Capitolium.
Streets and commercial spaces
Decumanus Maximus
The Decumanus Maximus, the principal east-west street of a Roman town, forms part of the archaeological itinerary. At Luni, it represents an urban section of the Via Aurelia and provides a surviving element of the city’s street system.
Forum portico
The portico of the Forum contains rooms associated with local commercial activity. These include tabernae, shops used for distributing food. Nearby installations for storing perishable goods provide evidence of Roman methods for preserving and cooling food supplies.
Public buildings
Amphitheatre
The archaeological area includes an amphitheatre built in the second century. Its remains are described as being in good condition.
Baths and theatre
Other ancient public buildings include baths and a theatre, completing the group of civic structures preserved within the archaeological area.
