- Art & Culture
Archaeology museum and sala longobarda
Like the other Civic Museums in Pavia, the Archaeology Museum is located inside the Visconti Castle and features a collection consisting mostly of artefacts accidentally discovered while work was being carried out in the city.
The first room is dedicated to the ancient territory of Roman Pavia, with an interesting reconstruction of the burial ground of Casteggio. The next room contains the Egyptian collection donated by the Marquis Malaspina di Sannazzaro, including about 150 various objects including canopic vases and amulets in addition to bronzes and papyrus.
Room II also contains a display of glass works from Roman times and a marble female head that is believed to represent Artemis. Rooms III and IV contain various types of local artefacts.
Once the visit to the Archaeology Museum has come to an end you will encounter the Sala Longobarda. As its name suggests, this room contains a display of Lombard ruins that attest to the splendour attained by the city of Pavia during the Lombard period. Once of the collection's most interesting pieces is the tombstone of a noble Roman, one of the finest examples of 8th century sculpture.