Add a review about the Museum of Mediterranean Archeology in Marseille

The appearance of the Museum of Mediterranean Archeology in Marseille is justified and does not surprise anyone. The museum is big, interesting and invariably popular - where, how not in Provence, to look for traces of great ancient civilizations? Such a wealth of cultures, as here, is rarely found anywhere in Western Europe. And, unlike many other regions, it's all pretty well preserved, and there are still a lot of random finds of the sample "building parking, finding Roman statues."

The museum is dedicated to the history of Provence and the archeology of the ancient civilizations in the region: the Egyptian, Etruscan , Middle Eastern, Greek and Roman. A very good place, such ancient exhibits are rarely found in one place in such a large number. The museum is located in an interesting building - the former almshouse for the poor, called Vieille Charite, built in the 17th century at the Carmelite Monastery.

The most interesting part of the museum is the so-called collection of everyday things. This collection of ancient household items: cosmetics, toys, dishes, furniture, shoes, etc. is really rare.

Collection

The museum consists of three large parts.

The first part is Egyptian. It occupies a rather large part of the museum, you can see sarcophagi (including rare wooden ones), many very ancient statues and bas-reliefs, as well as vases, decorative objects, etc.

But the most curious part of this section is the so-called collection everyday things. This is a collection of household items: cosmetics, toys, dishes, furniture, shoes and stuff. There are sarcophagi and statues in many museums, but everyday objects in large numbers are really rare.

The second part is called "Classical Antiquity", it is divided into 5 sections . Section "Middle East" is dedicated to Mesopotamia, " Cyprus "- respectively, the history of Cyprus (the oldest exhibits belong to the early Bronze Age)," Greece "- Ancient Greece (there is a large collection of clay objects in good condition)," Rome "- Ancient Rome (here bas-reliefs and dishes predominate number of rare glass I - the ancient Romans knew how to make glass), and the section "Etruria" contains things created by the Etruscans, mostly decorative .

Overview of the temporary exhibition

The second section - "Local archeology", the results are collected here archaeological excavations around Marseilles. They are held here very much, almost all the ancient peoples of Europe have visited here, so the collection is the richest. It is divided into parts according to the ancient cities found in the district. There are many statues, architectural elements and household items, the oldest exhibit dates back to the 5th century BC. E., that is, he is more than 2, 5 thousand years

An interesting place for an amateur of history is almost perfect. The collection and the building are very good. The collection consists almost entirely of archaeological finds

Practical information

Official address: Marseille, rue de la Charitt, 2, Center Vieille Charitt, Museum d'archtologie mtditerrantenne. For the trip, you can use 2 metro stations: Joliette and Republique-Dames.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, Monday is a day off. When planning a visit, it is worth noting that part of the museum is in the open air - on exhibition grounds in the courtyard of the building.

Ticket price: 5 EUR (for winter 2014), on Sundays before 13:00 - admission is free.