Gregorian Etruscan Museum

The Gregorian Etruscan Museum, established by Pope Gregory XVI and opened on February 2, 1837, was one of the first institutions specifically devoted to Etruscan antiquities. The museum primarily preserves artifacts discovered during excavations conducted in the years prior on the sites of some of the most significant ancient Etruscan cities, which were at the time a part of the Papal State's territory. The new museums also accepted works that had previously been in the Vatican and had a long history in other collections.

Once the Papal State ended in 1870, the Gregorian Etruscan Museum only seldom experienced development, but these instances were significant since they saw the addition of the collections of Falcioni (1898), Benedetto Guglielmi (1935), Mario Astarita (1967), and Giacinto Guglielmi (1987).

It is possible to reconstruct the ancient history of the Etruscan people from the Iron Age (ninth century B.C.) until their progressive and final convergence with the Roman state in the first century B.C. through the works on display, which document thriving craftsmanship and a particular form of artistic civilisation.

The Palazzetto del Belvedere of Innocent VIII Cibo (1484–1492), designed by Pollaiolo, and the apartment of Tor dei Venti of Pius IV Medici (1559–1555), begun by Michelangelo and Girolamo da Carpi and completed by Pirro Ligorio, house the Gregorian Etruscan Museum. It is possible to observe Bramante's enormous double-helix staircase, which he started building in 1512, from inside the museum.

The original sixteenth-century pictorial cycles, frescoes by Federico Barocci and Federico Zuccari (1563) and by Santi di Tito and Niccol Circignani delle Pomarance (1564), and important tempera murals from the end of the eighteenth century may also be found in the halls.

Address: Vatican Boulevard - 00165 Vatican City (Rome)

Phone: unknown

Opening hours: 09.00 a.m. – 06.00 p.m.

Rating: 4.6/5.0, 8 Tripadvisor reviews

Website: www.museivaticani.va