Museo Civico Archeologico Etnologico

The Civic Archaeological and Ethnological Museum of Modena traces the history of the city and its territory from the Palaeolithic through the early Middle Ages, alongside ethnological collections from beyond Europe. Founded in 1871, it retains an arrangement that reflects its nineteenth-century origins.

Why it matters

The museum grew from the post-unification interest in local identity and the emerging study of prehistory. Its collections of material from the terramare settlements of the central Po Valley helped establish Italian prehistoric research. The archaeological and ethnological holdings together document both the region's long history and the comparative anthropology of the nineteenth century.

What to notice

The archaeological galleries proceed chronologically, from Palaeolithic stone tools and Neolithic ceramics from Fiorano to Bronze Age terramare finds from Gorzano, Montale and Gaggio. Later displays include Villanovan grave goods, material from the Etruscan necropolis of Galassina, Roman finds from Mutina and Lombard burials. A Roman slab reproducing the Niobids of Phidias belongs to the museum's archaeological collection. The ethnological galleries are organised by region and include Lamberto Loria's New Guinea collection and feather ornaments associated with the Yanomami people.

Context and history

The museum's founding collections drew on nineteenth-century fieldwork by Giovanni Canestrini, Carlo Boni, Francesco Coppi and Arsenio Crespellani, whose excavations of terramare sites contributed to the study of Italian prehistory. Ferdinando Malavolti later added material from the Pescale plateau and Fornaci Carani. In 1990, the exhibition was reorganised while retaining the nineteenth-century layout. Today the museum forms part of Modena's civic museums in the Palazzo dei Musei.