Archaeological Museum of Marche

The National Archaeological Museum of Marche, established in 1860 and given its current name in 1906, is located in the center of Ancona in the Palazzo Feretti building. The building, designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, dates back to the XVI century. After the 1972 Ancona earthquake, the museum was closed. It was reopened only 16 years later. The museum and its exhibits were badly damaged during World War II.

The museum has many valuable artifacts from the Paleolithic era: bowls of linear construction, vessels with jewelry in the form of a cow’s head, female figurines and other finds. The Bronze Age is represented by knives from the Ripatransone vault. The Iron Age, covering 23 halls, displays bronze vases and shields, silverware and ivory products, Attic vases, ornaments of the Celtic and Hellenic periods, the famous head of a young man found in Cagli. The head of the young man is an example of Etruscan art.

Local products are represented by bronze pendants, human figures and two-faced heads of Taurus and Arius.