MAC – MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO DELLA CITTA’ DI VERCELLI LUIGI BRUZZA

The Archaeological Museum of the City of Vercelli, named after the Barnabite father Luigi Bruzza, an illustrious scholar who dedicated himself to the history and archaeology of Vercelli, is located in the so-called medieval sleeve of the former monastery of Santa Chiara, which overlooks a large square that used to be its cloister. The museum houses an archaeological collection consisting of more than six hundred artefacts, found during excavation campaigns carried out in the city area, and illustrates the history of ancient Vercellae according to an itinerary divided into seven themed rooms organised in chronological order. The new Archaeological Museum is developed with an interactive and multimedia itinerary, thanks to the use of projectors and touch screens that allow the whole family and school groups to participate, for whom specific workshops have also been designed in collaboration with the Leone Museum of Vercelli. The exhibition begins with the pre-Roman occupation of the territory, through the illustration of finds from the village of the Libui, a Celtic-speaking population that settled in an area corresponding to the current city centre, and then follows the stages that characterise the process of Romanisation, the acquisition of the status of municipium, up to the crisis of the city in late antiquity.Through the display of material culture objects and the use of immersive technological tools, the museum provides an insight into the daily life and trade of the Libui, as well as the progressive Romanisation of their customs. In the following rooms, traces of Roman Vercellae emerge, with its public infrastructure (walls, roads, sewers, canal port, necropolis, baths and amphitheatre) and its rich private domus. The museum allows visitors to immerse themselves in the daily lives of the women and men of the time, in their domestic, craft or trade occupations, and to follow their cults and burial rites. The museum is part of the MUVV network - Museums of Vercelli and Varallo.