Nov. 17, 2021
The National Archaeological Museum in Naples.
Inside the grand entry hall.
This was one of my favorite pieces.
Group with the torment of Dirce ("Farmese Bull") or "Toro Farnese".
This was sculpted using just one block of marble. it was very famous in its day and was sculpted for the Baths of Caracalla in the 3rd century.
It is 13 feet high making it the tallest ancient marble group ever found. In fact, it's the tallest intact ancient statue, period. The original block of marble this was carved out of weighed 15 tons. I added this picture of my 6 foot husband looking on to give you some perspective.
The Farnese Hercules. Hercules, the strongest man on earth, had been ordered by the gods to perform twelve tasks. The sculpture depicts him returning from his 11th task, retrieving three golden apples from a far-off garden - in order to get there, he had to travel the world, fight men, fight gods, free Prometheus from his rock, etc. He returns with the apples (they are cupped in his hand behind his back) only to be told by the gods that he performed the task incorrectly and he needs to go back and return the apples. This sculpture shows his bodily reaction to this news. It's very moving.
This statue is 10.5 feet tall and was sculpted in the 3rd century AD for the Baths of Caracalla.
Colossal enthroned statue of Augustus wearing the oak wreath on his head, from Herculaneum 1st century AD.
Colossal enthroned statue of Claudius from Herculaneum, 1st century AD.
Portrait statue of the Emperor Claudius. 1st century AD from Herculaneum.
VERDICT: This is a tough one. While this museum in and of itself isn't a must do before you die (in fact, there were some disappointments - we all thought and hoped there would be more preserved bodies from Pompeii/Herculaneum in their formed poses when they died from the Mt Vesuvius eruptions - we saw a few of these in Pompeii and figured we'd see more here, but in fact there were none. Also some of their "big" items that people specifically come to the museum were out on loan. In fact, a LOT of them were. If you want to loan an artifact or two our here or that, of course that is fine. But we all thought they loaned out way to many of their "biggies" at the same time making it disappointing for those of us actually there at the "home" of those artifacts!) HOWEVER, I can't imagine coming to this region of the world and not going to see Pompeii and/or Herculaneum. And if you see Pompeii/Herculaneum, then you need to see this too because it's a perfect adjunct. So many of the original artifacts found in those two cities are housed here.
Cost: EU citizens are just 2 euros. But for everyone else >18 (under 17 is free!), the cost is 15 euros.
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