Pisa, the great Museum of Ancient Ships at the Medici arsenals finally opens

After nearly two decades of work, studies, restoration and research, the Museum of Ancient Ships in Pisa, which will be housed in the Arsenali Medicei, finally opens to the public: the inauguration is set for Sunday, June 16, at 6 p.m., in the presence of Minister of Cultural Heritage Alberto Bonisoli. It will be a museum of great proportions: nearly five thousand square meters of exhibition space, with as many as 47 sections divided into eight thematic areas. In the first room, “The City Between the Two Rivers,” visitors will learn about the history of Pisa from antiquity, through the Etruscan and Roman phases, to the arrival of the Lombards. The second, “Land and Waters,” tells the story of the city’s relationship with the land and water, while the third, “The Fury of the Waters,” is the story of the floods that have hit the Pisa plain over the centuries. The fourth section, “Navalia,” illustrates how ships were built in the ancient world and how they are built today, while the fifth, “Ships,” which occupies two bays of the Arsenals, gives a close look at the types and purposes of ancient ships. “Trades” is the subject of the sixth section, while the seventh, “Navigation,” shows how people sailed in ancient times, and finally the eighth, “Life on Board,” describes all aspects of life on a ship: clothing, luggage, storms, shipboard lighting, how people cooked and ate, cults and superstitions, daily life on board, and leisure.

The public can learn about the history of Roman ships by observing seven ships dating from periods between the third century B.C. and the seventh century A.D., as well as eight thousand artifacts that will tell the story of life at sea centuries ago. The ships are on display throughout the tour.

The opening of the Museum of Ancient Ships is one of the most important events in Italian archaeology in recent years.The discovery near Pisa in 1998 of an extraordinary series of exceptionally well-preserved shipwrecks, still carrying cargoes of commercial products and evidence of life on board, dates back to 1998. The ships were found after the State Railways began some work on the network near the Pisa-San Rossore station. The Pisa Roman Shipyard, which was completed in 2016, has returned about thirty Roman-era vessels and thousands of artifacts, making it one of the most important excavations in recent years, which has also allowed for an advancement in the use of technologies, given the preservation conditions of the artifacts, encased in layers of clay and sands that required considerable economic, organizational and technological efforts.

To mark the occasion, on Sunday the Museum of Ancient Ships will be open from 9 to 11 p.m. with free admission, and from Monday 17 the regular opening regime will begin.

Pisa, the great Museum of Ancient Ships at the Medici arsenals finally opens

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.