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Museo Nazionale
Jan. 30th, 2013 07:55 pmOn Monday once we got back to Naples from Cuma, and we had a few pastries and caffelatte (Adrian) and hot chocolate (moi) served by a very surly waiter in a cafe'/pasticceria, we went to the Museo Nazionale at around 5 pm (it's open until 7:30 pm).
We both loved it!
It is a real treasure trove of Roman art and it was delightfully empty of visitors - indeed we were the only people in most rooms.
Even the normally crowded 'Gabinetto secreto' was empty apart from a couple of people on their way out.
There were not even many attendants and they all seemed rather busy chatting to each other.
(The 'secret cabinet' houses a collection of erotic findings from Pompeii that were for a long time off-limits to 'normal' visitors because considered obscene. The door to the collection was even walled up at some stage. Even now, under-14's on school trips must have written permission from their parents!)
The ground floor of the museum houses the bulk of the Farnese Collection of statues found during excavations in Rome in the 16th century and belonging to Pope Paolo III and his family (the Farnese).
It's simply fantastic!
On the upstairs levels there are mosaics and frescos from Pompeii and Herculaneum and other sites buried by the ashes of Mount Vesuvius
My camera 'died' in the gabinetto secreto: one cock too many me thinks! lol
So no photos of the fabulous Salone della Meridiana (which was too dark anyway) or the giant 19th-century diorama of Pompeii...
For more pictures, including a couple perhaps not safe for work (although it's art), please see the slideshow.
We both loved it!
It is a real treasure trove of Roman art and it was delightfully empty of visitors - indeed we were the only people in most rooms.
Even the normally crowded 'Gabinetto secreto' was empty apart from a couple of people on their way out.
There were not even many attendants and they all seemed rather busy chatting to each other.
(The 'secret cabinet' houses a collection of erotic findings from Pompeii that were for a long time off-limits to 'normal' visitors because considered obscene. The door to the collection was even walled up at some stage. Even now, under-14's on school trips must have written permission from their parents!)
The ground floor of the museum houses the bulk of the Farnese Collection of statues found during excavations in Rome in the 16th century and belonging to Pope Paolo III and his family (the Farnese).
It's simply fantastic!
On the upstairs levels there are mosaics and frescos from Pompeii and Herculaneum and other sites buried by the ashes of Mount Vesuvius
My camera 'died' in the gabinetto secreto: one cock too many me thinks! lol
So no photos of the fabulous Salone della Meridiana (which was too dark anyway) or the giant 19th-century diorama of Pompeii...
For more pictures, including a couple perhaps not safe for work (although it's art), please see the slideshow.
