Trieste, civico

The Museum of History and Art derives from the 1873 Museum of Antiquities, whose collections were initiated and preserved by the Academy of Archaeologists in the second half of the 18th century. Since 1913, it has been combined with the Lapidary Garden (already in existence since 1843) to form a single complex, which was opened after renovation in 1925.

One enters the museum by walking through a garden full of lapidary artefacts, among which a small temple stands out. Inside, a funerary monument dedicated to the famous antiquities scholar J.J. Winckelmann, murdered in Trieste in 1768, dominates the space.

Upon entering the building, the tour leads through seven rooms, three of which are on the lower floor, filled with artefacts from private donations. The objects, of Roman and Egyptian origin, have been collected in different showcases in relation to their function and material of constitution: one thus sees in the Roman rooms oil lamps of various forms (from the 6th century BC to the 6th century AD. ), balsam jars and other glass vessels, small objects of a mainly decorative character (such as fibulae, hairpins, rings), marble sculptures and small bronzes; most of the space in the Egyptian room is occupied by sarcophagi (one of which has a mummy) and other showcases with statuettes of deities, amulets and ornamental objects.

On the upper floor is a collection of objects grouped by area of origin and displayed in a 19th-century layout; having come to the museum thanks to a donation by the Sartorio family, they include pottery of various origins (Etruscan, Corinthian, Lucanian, etc.), some of which are large. The remaining rooms display artefacts from necropolis, castellieri and caves in the area, including Caporetto, Redipuglia, San Canziano and Santa Lucia di Tolmino