Where Gumbo Was #468
Gumbo was visiting the very interesting Archaeology Museum, which sits on a hill overlooking the fabulous UNESCO World Heritage Archaeology site in Agrigento, Sicily. Congratulations to Professor Abe, George G and Roderick Simpson, who recognized where Gumbo was.
We walked uphill to the museum after visiting the city’s amazing archeologic site and enjoying a quick lunch in a nearby cafe. It was mid-afternoon by the time we arrived, so we only had a few hours to explore the collection, not nearly enough time to do a deep dive, but it certainly gave us an appreciation of the breadth of the museum’s collections.
Your visit starts on the grounds, which has an interesting collection of art, including these pieces….
The Archaeological Museum, established in 1967, is well-respected and the most visited museum in Sicily. It’s home to an amazing collection of artefacts from Agrigento and its surroundings, dating back thousands of years. More than 5,000 items are on display, although the items seemed well placed and not too crowded. The displays are exhibited (more or less) in chronological order, from prehistoric times to the end of the Greek-Roman era.
Here’s some of what we saw:
(Early Bronze Age Cups, 22nd – 15th centuries B.C.)
(Bronze spear points, Later Middle Bronze Age — 13th century B.C.)
(Mycenaean 3-handled jar, 15th – 14th century B.C.)
(Don’t know much about this piece, except that it is beautiful!)
(“Dog bowl”, end of 7th century B.C.)
(Terracotta altar with facing sphinxes, first half of 6th century B.C.)
(Corinthian ceramics, first half of 6th century B.C.)
(A variety of ancient Agrigento gold and silver coins and jewelry)
(An extensive collection of Greek pottery — several hundred years B.C.)
There is a variety of sculpture, most dating to the 5th and 6th century B.C.
(Figures of women providers, 5th century B.C.)
(Terracotta bust of a female divinity — ?Persephone. 5th century B.C.)
(Greek statue of a young soldier, 480 B.C.)
(Roman Imperial bust, 2nd century AD)
I found the most impressive display inside the museum was of the Telamon giant statue (7.61m), from the Temple of Zeus. An entire room was dedicated to this giant, with models illustrating the different theories about how these giant statues were used in the temple.
The grounds of the museums also have several attractions worth seeing, including the St. Nicholas Church….
(Entry to the St. Nicholas Church)
Next to the museum you can see the remains of Ekklesiasterion (place of public meetings in the Greek Akragas) — an amphitheater…
Adjoining this was a small Roman temple called the Oratory of Falaride.
I really enjoyed our visit to this fascinating museum, and wished we had more time to explore but dusk was approaching, and the museum was beginning to shut its doors, so we had to return to our room at the Hotel Villa Athena.
