Archaeological Museum of Antonio Salinas

The construction of the building, which houses the Archaeological Museum of Antonio Salinas, was started at the end of the XVI century. It houses one of the richest collections of Phoenician and ancient Greek art, as well as historical objects from Sicily.

The building of the museum was originally built as a monastery, the abode of the Holy Fathers of the Catholic Society Philip Neri. This is a complex, which also includes the chapel of St. Philip Neri and the church of St. Ignatius, designed by the famous architect Antonio Muttone. The construction of the complex was completed in the XVII century.

In 1866, under the Anti-Religious Orders Act, the building was confiscated and given over to a museum that now houses art from different periods of Western Sicily history. From 1873 to 1914, the director of the national museum was archaeologist Antonio Salinas. He bequeathed his personal collection of 6,000 items to the museum.

The most interesting exhibit of the Archaeological Museum of Antonio Salinas is the treasures of the excavations of the ancient city of Selinunte on the southern coast of Sicily. Many items were found in underwater archaeological work. Here you can see evidence of prehistoric times, which were found in caves near Palermo.