Turin, unprecedented archaeological tour of the early Christian Basilica of the Savior opens to the public

On the occasion of the three hundredth anniversary of the Museum of Antiquities (1724-2024), from April 23, 2024, the Royal Museums of Turin will open for the first time to the public the unprecedented archaeological tour of the early Christian Basilica of the Savior, for a thousand years the Christian center of the city along with the nearby churches of St. John the Baptist and St. Mary.

In the late 15th century, with Turin being elevated to archiepiscopal see, the building was demolished to make way for the new Renaissance cathedral, designed by Amedeo di Francesco da Settignano, known as Meo del Caprino (born in Settignano, Florence, in 1430 and died in 1501). In 1909, ten years after the Roman Theater was unearthed, excavations unearthed architectural structures, remains of burials, inscriptions, and the 13th-century mosaic dedicated to Fortune Governing the Fates of Mankind, which was immediately transferred to the Palazzo Madama civic museum. In the 1990s, the Superintendency was able to complete excavations over a larger area, bringing to light the pavement of Piazza San Giovanni. Thanks to initial support from the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation and later funding from the Ministry of Culture, the entire archaeological area was entrusted to the Royal Museums of Turin in 2021. Today, a high-impact musealization, enriched by three-dimensional reconstructions of the Roman Theater and the episcopal complex, the result of a collaboration between the Superintendency, the Regional Secretariat and the Royal Museums, coordinated by Filippo Masino and Stefania Ratto, restores accessibility and comprehensibility to this heritage of urban archaeology. To immerse oneself in the exploration of the city’s history through the centuries, the visit to the archaeological areas is enriched with an itinerary that extends from the Basilica del Salvatore to the Roman decumanus, passing through the Theater and reaching the section of the Museum of Antiquities dedicated to Archaeology in Turin. This itinerary is enhanced by a new multimedia display that includes a gallery of illustrious figures.

The program of third centennial celebrations opens with the archaeological exhibition La Scandalosa e la Magnifica: 300 Years of Research on Industria and the Cult of Isis in Piedmont, hosted in the Spazio Scoperte on the second floor of the Galleria Sabauda and open to the public from April 23 to Nov. 10, 2024, curated by archaeologist Elisa Panero of the Royal Museums, in collaboration with the University of Turin. The exhibition offers a journey through the Roman city of Industria-Bodincomagus. This “alpine” center with strong cosmopolitan influences was a crucial node linking local and eastern cults, economic and cultural relations with the eastern Aegean. The archaeological vicissitudes of the site are intertwined with the history of the Turin museum and the Savoy family, representing among the oldest evidence in Italy of the cult of Isis, referred to as “The Scandalous and the Magnificent” in the 3rd-4th century A.D. hymn found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt and dedicated to the oriental goddess after whom the title of the exhibition is inspired. On display are 75 objects including statues, statuettes and epigraphs, in bronze and marble, with special and evocative works such as the Osiris Chronokrator - Lord of Time - wrapped in the coils of the serpent Aion, dated to the first half of the 2nd century AD - 3rd century AD, which arrived in the dynastic collections in 1612. The exhibition also features bronze artifacts from the archaeological area of Industria, now pertaining to the Piedmont Regional Museums Directorate, near present-day Monteu da Po (Turin), a town reported by Pliny the Elder in the Naturalis Historia, such as the bronze dancer, dated I-II cent. AD, rediscovered in the early 19th century by Count Bernardino Morra of Lauriano, and the famous bronze tripod, a work dated to the mid-2nd century CE, richly decorated with silenes on lion’s paws, sphinxes crouching above a plant raceme motif, upper supports adorned with three figured theories depicting Dionysus and three winged victories on the globe. The peculiar sculptures dedicated to various deities - Isis also depicted in the guise of Fortuna, Harpocrates, Apollo, Mithras, Heracles, Jupiter Ammon - the inscriptions and bronze objects, such as the sistrum and the priestess statuette, offer the possibility to delve into traditions, myths and various religions that refer to oriental cults in line with the cosmopolitan vocation that the city of Industria must have had already in its pre-Roman phase as a market on the Po. There are also ceramic materials from all over the Mediterranean, some exhibited for the first time, and epigraphs attesting to ancient families of central-Italic origin, such as the Avilii, the Lolli, the Sertori and the Coccei, testifying to the vibrancy of the center located on the axis of the Po, at the heart of the most important economic, social and political trades of the time.

Three centuries of histories, excavations and archaeological discoveries linked to the Museum of Antiquities thus traces the physiognomy of a city “sacred to the gods,” but much loved by men devoted to trade and the politics of the Empire, about which much remains to be discovered: indeed, the concluding section is an opportunity to take stock of Industria’s urban planning, the interpretation of its monuments and research prospects.

The exhibition is part of the project Roman Marbles and Turin Biographies: ideas and materials for the enhancement of the epigraphic collections of the Museum of Antiquities of Turin, supported by Fondazione CRT. The exhibition is accompanied by the short guide La Scandalosa e la Magnifica. 300 years of research on Industria and the cult of Isis in Piedmont, published in the series I Catalogues, dedicated by the Royal Museums to the Museum of Antiquities.

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission included in the Royal Museums ticket.

Image: Detail of Osiris Chronokrator wrapped in the coils of the serpent Aion (head 1st century AD; marble; entered the Savoy collections in 1612 from the collection of Alessandro Monaldi).

Turin, unprecedented archaeological tour of the early Christian Basilica of the Savior opens to the public

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