Civico Museo Archeologico di Milano

The Museum comprises several sections. In the tour dedicated to ancient Milan, in addition to numerous exhibits from the city, the remains of a Roman house from the 1st century A.D., a section of the city walls from the end of the 3rd - 4th century A.D. with the polygonal tower and a second, square tower belonging to the carceres (the place from which the horse races started) of the late Roman circus, clearly visible from the garden, can be seen. Beyond the Roman walls, one reaches the room dedicated to Caesarea Maritima, an important archaeological site in Israel, excavated by an Italian mission in the early 1960s. The Greek room is dedicated to the society and thought of the ancient Greeks. The exhibits illustrate the social role of man, from childhood to adulthood, in peace and in war, the condition of women (as free women, heterosexuals or priestesses) and then daily life marked by economic activities, theatre, religion, the thought of life beyond death, and finally myth. The Etruscan section illustrates the main aspects of this civilisation, from its origins to its Romanisation (8th-2nd century BC). The presentation by themes (trade, daily life, women's world, religiosity) concludes with the display of some finds from the excavations conducted in Cerveteri by the Lerici Foundation. The early medieval section, on the other hand, narrates the transition from late Roman times to the early Middle Ages (4th-6th centuries) through objects from the Gothic and Longobard tradition. The room dedicated to the art of Gandhara (an ancient geographical name corresponding to today's northern Pakistan and north-eastern Afghanistan) completes the itinerary. On display are works of great value (statue-stele of Buddha, figure of a monk) that offer an articulate and complete presentation of this artistic production of Buddhist subjects.