MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO SIGISMONDO CASTROMEDIANO
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Museum of rich collections, testimonies of the Messapian civilization and the Roman colonies
It is the oldest museum in Puglia and the most interesting museum in the city of Lecce... and it's free! The institution was founded in 1868 by Duke Sigismondo Castromediano, an intellectual and archaeologist who was politically involved in the anti-Bourbon political movements. Since 1979, the museum has been housed in the former Jesuit College, which has been completely renovated. The archaeological collections are divided into five sections: the Earth, the Sea, the Living, the Dead and the Sacred. They illustrate the long and rich history of Salento: the traces of human occupation in the caves in the Paleolithic, the Messapian civilization and its fortified cities, the Greek presence along the coast ... The exhibition emphasizes the decisive role played by the Mediterranean: since the second millennium BC, it has been a communication route between southern Italy and the Aegean world, and has allowed the exchange of goods, ideas, myths and people. A very fine collection of ancient vases, imported from Greece or of Apulian production. The Roman and medieval sections and the picture gallery are currently under construction and the opening date has not yet been set. They should focus, among other things, on exchanges with the Byzantine East and with Venice, illustrated by sculpted ivories and polyptychs by Lorenzo Veneziano (1380) and the Vivarini brothers (15th century).
