The museum, housed in the 15th-century Palazzo dell’Ospedale di Santa Maria della Morte – a 15th-century building renovated in 1875 – was established in 1881 by merging two museums: the University Museum, heir to the “Room of Antiquities” of the Academy of Sciences founded by Luigi Ferdinando Marsili (1714), and the Municipal Museum, recently enriched by the large collection of painter Pelagio Palagi (1860) and numerous artifacts from successful excavation campaigns conducted in Bologna and its surrounding areas between the late 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century.
Formed by the joining of the Aldrovandi, Cospi, and Marsili university collections, the rich collection of the painter Pelagio Palagi, and archaeological materials from excavations in Bologna and its territory, the museum ranks among the most important Italian collections.
Besides the Egyptian collection, one of the most important in Europe, among the historic collections, alongside the Etruscan-Italic and Roman – from which the artifacts enriching the exhibition journey The Painters of Pompeii originate –, the Greek collection stands out, which preserves the marble head of Athena Lemnia, an Augustan era copy of the bronze statue by Phidias that dominated the entrance of the Acropolis of Athens in the 5th century BC.
Within the rich Bolognese archaeological documentation, which illustrates the oldest history of the city and surrounding territory from the Paleolithic to the Roman era, the materials of the Etruscan civilization constitute the museum’s most important core because, through thousands of funerary sets, they document the development of Felsina (the Etruscan name of Bologna) from the 9th century BC to the early 4th century BC.
Also extensively documented is the life of the Roman city of Bononia, a Latin colony founded in 189 BC on the site of the Etruscan Felsina. The milestones, remains of architectural decorations, and especially the numerous inscriptions arranged in the entrance hall and courtyard offer a vivid snapshot of the city’s history during the republican and imperial periods. The beautiful headless statue of Nero should be attributed to the decoration of the theater, unearthed in the current city center.
Completing the museum’s collections is one of the most important numismatic collections in Italy, with over 100,000 specimens including coins, medals, punches, and dies, and the Plaster Cast Gallery.
Its heritage mainly consists of rich collections of materials documenting Bolognese archaeology from prehistory to the Roman era, among which the numerous Etruscan funerary sets of the Villanovan and Felsine periods stand out. The museum’s arrangement, today extensively renewed compared to the original setup, is articulated into sections displaying artifacts from the Palagi and University Collections (Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan-Italic, and Roman Rooms), and those documenting the city’s history (Prehistoric, Etruscan, and Lapidary Sections). The Egyptian section also assembles important collections, counting about 3,500 pieces, including masterpieces such as the reliefs from Pharaoh Horemheb’s tomb, and is one of the most important in Europe.
The museum also preserves a significant numismatic collection, consisting of about 100,000 coins and medals. In the recently renovated prehistoric section, the evolution of settlement in the Bologna area is represented by a series of stone tools from the Paleolithic and numerous artifacts documenting the development of the Neolithic, Copper Age, and Bronze Age. Particularly notable are the findings from the Grotta del Farneto, the Rocca di Badolo hoard (16th century BC), with its forty-one bronze axes, and artifacts from numerous habitation sites, including that of S. Giuliano di Toscanella, from which, among other things, a well-preserved casting mold for sickles and arrowheads originates. The exhibit is characterized by a very rich Etruscan section. Bologna’s Villanovan phase (9th to mid-6th century BC) is illustrated by a wide selection of about four thousand funerary sets from necropolises (including those of Savena, S. Vitale, Benacci, Arnoaldi), comprising personal use objects and bronze tools, as well as ceramic and bronze pottery. Noteworthy here are in particular the famous Benacci askos, a very rare vessel form dating to the late 8th century BC, and the extraordinary “San Francesco hoard,” found near the homonymous basilica: a foundry deposit consisting of a large dolium containing over 14,000 bronze pieces, both whole and fragmented, from local production and other origins.
The fully urban phase of Felsina, Etruscan Bologna (“Certosa” or Felsine phase), is once again mainly illustrated by funerary sets, among which the exceptional “Large Tomb” and “Stool Tomb,” attributable to the Giardini Margherita necropolis, stand out. The important bronze situla decorated with scenes of military, civil, and religious life takes its name from the Certosa sepulchral field. Also highly significant is the core of about two hundred and fifty sandstone relief stelae, which marked the most prestigious tombs. The Villanovan culture of Verucchio, the main site of Romagna in the early Iron Age, is dedicated a room exhibiting a princely tomb characterized by rich wooden furnishings. Concerning the Roman era, the loricate marble torso of Emperor Nero, found in the 17th century in the theater area (Piazza dei Celestini), is displayed in the entrance hall, while between the hall and the courtyard is the rich collection of inscriptions, mainly dating from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD, interesting both for onomastic and magistratorial documentation and for some decorations inspired by the deceased’s profession. Milestones from the Via Aemilia are also placed in the courtyard.
Moving to the sections dedicated to collectible objects, in the Etruscan-Italic antiquities room, bucchero ware and, among the mirrors, the famous “Cospian patera” are highlighted. The Greek section exhibits the celebrated marble head of Athena Lemnia from the Palagi collection, a beautiful Augustan copy of an original bronze by Phidias. The series of Greek and Magna Graecia ceramics, gems, and jewelry is substantial. A special mention deserves the Egyptian collection, one of the most important in Europe, largely from the Palagi provenance, recently rearranged, rich with more than three thousand objects such as sarcophagi, steles, ushabti, and various artifacts documenting three millennia of civilization. Among the most important pieces are reliefs from Horemheb’s tomb at Saqqara (13th century BC), a monument rediscovered by recent excavations, which is featured in a computer-graphic video. The museum is equipped with a computer section with some stations for visitors to explore and deepen aspects and themes of its rich museum heritage.
The exhibition hall, located on the ground floor, is an almost 1000 sqm functional and suitable space to host highly significant exhibitions: over the last 40 years, hundreds of temporary exhibitions have been offered here to the public, both produced by the museum and organized in collaboration with other partners.
The museum is also known for the quality of its educational offer and lifelong training, making it a primary reference point for the analysis of museum educational practices.
Of fundamental importance for the enhancement of the permanent heritage are finally the relations with other national and international institutions connected to historical and scientific research activities, as evidenced by the numerous projects and considerable number of loans in which the museum is engaged each year.
