The archaeological museum of Turin retains the historic name of Museum of Antiquities to emphasize the continuity of this historic institution.
Its origins date back to the mid-16th century, with the collections of Duke Emanuel Philibert of Savoy, later expanded by Charles Emmanuel I and housed in the gallery specially created to host the ducal collections.
In 1723 Victor Amadeus II, King of Sardinia, commissioned the eminent scholar Scipione Maffei to organize the collection of inscriptions which, together with the already existing antiquities, was arranged in the University Palace. During the 19th century, almost all the classical antiquities were moved to the Palace of the Academy of Sciences, where in the meantime an important collection of Egyptian artifacts had been installed: thus was born the Royal Museum of Greek-Roman and Egyptian Antiquities.
In 1940, with the definitive separation from the Egyptian Museum, the new Museum of Antiquities was established, which since 1982 has found an independent home in the 19th-century greenhouses of the Royal Palace, where the historic core of the collections is currently housed. The collections of Savoyard antiquities, later supplemented by other prestigious donations and acquisitions, allow us to trace the evolution of collecting tastes and testify to the growing interest in archaeology in Piedmont.
A new pavilion, created in 1998, hosts the section dedicated to the Piedmont territory: along the exhibition route unfolds an ideal journey back in time, to encounter one after another, as in actual archaeological excavation sites, the many and surprising testimonies of ancient Piedmont.
The underground floor of the New Wing of the Royal Palace serves as an extraordinary link with the archaeological area of the Roman Theater and is currently used for temporary exhibitions, awaiting the new reorganization of the collections and the connection with the Royal Complex.
