Museo Archeologico Regionale Salinas

Overview

The Museo Archeologico Regionale Antonio Salinas is one of Italy's richest archaeological collections, housed in a 17th-century former monastery. Its prize exhibits are the monumental metopes from the Greek temples of Selinunte.

Highlights

• Selinunte Metopes: Carved stone panels depicting mythological battles, among the finest examples of Greek relief sculpture.
• Phoenician Sarcophagi: Elaborately carved stone coffins from the Punic necropolis of Palermo.
• Bronze Ram of Syracuse: A Hellenistic bronze battering ram once mounted on a warship.

History

Founded in 1814, the museum inherited collections assembled by the Jesuits and the University of Palermo. Antonio Salinas, the eminent archaeologist after whom it is named, directed it from 1873 to 1914.

Visitor Tips

• Tip 1: Don't miss the cloister with its Roman anchors and inscriptions.
• Tip 2: Closed Mondays; free first Sunday of the month.
• Duration: 1–1.5 hours.