National Archaeological Museum of Taranto: Preserving Magna Graecia’s Heritage

Visitor Information

Google Rating: 4.7

Popularity: Medium

Google Maps: View on Google Maps

Official Website: museotaranto.cultura.gov.it

Country: Italy

Civilization: Greek, Roman

Remains: Museum

History

The National Archaeological Museum of Taranto is located in the city of Taranto, in the province of Taranto, Apulia, southern Italy. The museum occupies a former convent in the historic center of the city, which was originally founded by the Spartans in the 8th century BCE as part of Magna Graecia, the network of Greek colonies in southern Italy.

The museum itself was established in 1887, following the vision of archaeologist Luigi Viola, who intended it to focus on the archaeology of Magna Graecia. Over time, the museum’s scope expanded to document the broader archaeological heritage of Taranto and the Apulia region. The building housing the museum was originally an 18th-century convent dedicated to San Pasquale di Baylon.

In 2014, the museum was granted special autonomy status by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, reflecting its importance as a state-owned institution. In 2016, a new section dedicated to prehistoric artifacts from the Paleolithic and Bronze Age of Apulia was inaugurated on the second floor. More recently, in April 2023, the museum received the sculptural group “Orpheus and the Sirens,” repatriated after fifty years abroad, now permanently exhibited on the first floor.

Remains

The museum’s layout is organized chronologically and thematically across three floors. The raised ground floor serves as a venue for temporary exhibitions and conferences. The first floor is dedicated to the Greco-Roman period of Taranto, with exhibits arranged by material type, including marble sculptures, monumental tombs, ceramics from necropolises, and goldsmith works.

Among the marble statues are pieces carved from white marble imported from the island of Paros, such as a 5th-century BCE Kore (a statue of a young woman), a votive statue of Athena, a head of Herakles, and copies of famous classical originals. The Roman period is represented by stone heads made from local carparo stone, mosaics, and inscriptions from both public and private buildings.

The necropolis ceramics are displayed in chronological order, spanning from the city’s foundation through the archaic period. This collection includes Proto-Corinthian and Corinthian pottery imported from Corinth, mostly found in funerary contexts, as well as archaic pink clay vases decorated with black-figure mythological and athletic scenes.

The museum’s gold collection, known as the “Ori di Taranto” or Gold of Taranto, contains finely crafted jewelry and everyday objects such as mirrors, makeup boxes, and pins. These pieces date from the archaic through Byzantine periods and come from southern Italian tombs.

Additional notable artifacts include bronze statues like the “Zeus of Ugento,” terracotta figurines of gladiators, polychrome terracotta seats, and bronze oinochoe (wine jugs) shaped as female heads. Various mosaics depict animals and mythological scenes. The museum also preserves a bronze fragment of the Lex Municipii Tarentini, an ancient municipal law, and a polychrome terracotta copy of the “Dea di Taranto” (Goddess of Taranto), created by laser scanning in 2016.

The second floor houses prehistoric artifacts from the wider Apulia region, covering the Paleolithic and Bronze Age periods. This section complements the museum’s focus on the long history of human settlement in the area.