ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

After the site of Paestum, a visit to the museum is a must. The museum was founded in 1952 and is located in front of the archaeological area on the other side of the Via Magna Grecia. It is full of treasures from the archaeological site of Paestum, from the temple of Hera on the banks of the river Sele (the Greeks of Poseidonia were definitely fond of the goddess!) and from excavations in the Greek and Lucanian necropolises in the vicinity. The museum's collections include funerary objects, numerous vases, weapons and frescoes. Plans and models reconstruct the urban development of the city under Roman rule. Among the masterpieces, two sections in particular are noteworthy:

The sculptures of the temple of Hera at the mouth of the Sele. Of this sanctuary, about 9 km from Paestum, only the foundations remain. It has, however, provided us with the most important collection of archaic sculptures in all of Magna Graecia. The oldest cycle consists of 40 metopes (bas-reliefs adorning the frieze of the temple) dated to the second half of the 6th century BC and depicting the 12 labours of Heracles and scenes from the Trojan War. The depictions have the naive charm characteristic of the archaic Greek style. The relief is flat and may have been completed with colours. The second cycle of metopes, more recent, depicts dancers: it should be noted that the relief is more hollowed out.

The painted tombs. They were presented in the form of coffins made of stone slabs whose inner walls were painted. The best known is the "Tomb of the Diver"(Tomba del Tuffatore) dating from the^5th century BC. Its historical and artistic value is inestimable: it is the only surviving example of Greek painting from Magna Graecia. A funeral banquet is depicted on the side walls, while the upper slab shows a man plunging into the water, symbolising the passage from life to death. Painted slabs from later tombs, from the 4th century BC, i.e. from the Lucanian period, are also on display. The line is less fine, more rapid, but the scenes, very descriptive, do not lack charm. They show warriors on horseback, chariot races, hunting and combat scenes for the male tombs, and decorative elements for the female tombs. The funeral ceremony, with the display of the body of the deceased surrounded by his relatives and mourners, is regularly depicted.