National Archaeological Museum of Naples: A Remarkable Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities

This is part of a continuing series of photographs from my 21-day, three country, five city
winter vacation to Europe with my ladyfriend Serena.
Today’s post continues our tour of Naples with a visit to the National Archaeological Museum of Naples,
one of the most important archaeological museums in the world…

 
As much of an art museum nerd as I am (Serena, too), I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of archaeological museums, or archaeology for that matter. Even in great art museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Le Louvre in Paris or even the recently visited Vatican Museums in Vatican City – I’ll usually just bypass the archaeology stuff and stick to the art stuff.
 
Back in 2019, however, I visited the remarkable National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City (I was pretty much just looking for a way to kill a few hours while in town alone getting a dental implant!) and realized that archaeology could be pretty fascinating – even for me. That said, you could put the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli) on that list of “cool archaeology museums for people who aren’t all that interested in archaeology”.
 

 
The collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples includes works from Greek, Roman and Renaissance times, and especially Roman artifacts from the nearby Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum sites. Their core is from the Farnese Collection, one of the first collections of artistic items from Greco-Roman antiquity (between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD.). The items in the collection were acquired or requisitioned by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, who became Pope Paul III (1534–1549) – artworks were routinely uncovered in Roman lands, and during the Italian Renaissance.
 

 
The building was built as a cavalry barracks in 1585. From 1616 to 1777, it was the seat of the University of Naples. From 1777, the building underwent a long period of renovation and expansion projects. During the decade of French rule (1806-1815), the first installations were created with the museum ultimately receiving its current status as an Archaeological Museum in 1957.
 

Farnese Hercules (Ercole Farnese)

The greater part of the museum’s classical sculpture collection largely comes from the Farnese Marbles, which is important because they include Roman copies of classical Greek sculpture, which are in many cases the only surviving indications of what the lost works by ancient Greek sculptors such as Calamis, Kritios and Nesiotes looked like. Many of the marble sculptures were restored by Italian sculptor Carlo Albacini (1735–1813).
 

The Farnese Hercules (Ercole Farnese in Italian) is an ancient statue of Hercules made in the early third century AD and signed by Glykon, who is otherwise unknown. It is a copy or version of a much older Greek original that was well known, in this case a bronze by Greek sculptor Lysippos that would have been made in the fourth century BC.
 

The Donarium of Dying Figures (above), or “Piccolo donario” (Small Donarium), refers to a group of Roman copies of Hellenistic bronze originals, including a Dying Gaul, a Dying Amazon, a Dead Giant, and a Dying Persian Probably grouped together in the Baths of Agrippa in ancient Rome to commemorate the military triumphs of Agrippa over the Galatians in 37 BC.
 

The Venus Callipyge, also known as the Aphrodite Kallipygos (Greek: Ἀφροδίτη Καλλίπυγος) or the Callipygian Venus, all literally meaning “Venus (or Aphrodite) of the beautiful buttocks” (and they are quite impressive), is an Ancient Roman marble statue thought to be a copy of an older Greek original. The marble statue extant today dates to the late 1st century BC.
 

The Bronze Runners are famous ancient sculptures from Herculaneum’s Villa of the Papyri (which was buried under the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.), discovered in 1754. Dated to the 1st century BCE, these Roman replicas are thought to be copies of earlier 4th-century BCE Greek sculptures, depicting victorious athletes.
 

One of the highlights of the museum is the Sundial Hall, designed by Italian architect Pompeo Schiantarelli. It is made up of a brass strip among marble panels where painted medallions depicting the twelve signs of the zodiac are embedded. At midday, the sunlight, penetrating the hole of the gnomon placed on the top in the southwestern corner, falls on the meridian line of the floor, going along it according to the seasons.
 








 
I think Serena and I would agree that even those who might be bored by archaeology will find something to pique their interest in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. The museum is about a 15 minute walk NW from the Naples Cathedral and about a 20 minute walk north from the Spanish Quarter. It is open from 9am to 7:30pm every day except Tuesday. A ticket will set you back €20.00.

This post wraps up our time in Naples (view the other posts HERE). Our next stop is the charming city of Bath so SUBSCRIBE HERE to not miss a future post. All the cool kids have already done it. Just saying…All photographs taken with the Xiaomi 13 UltraFor more information on the city of Naples, check out the official visitors guide