Naples Museums
Here are main museums to visit in Naples:
The Naples National Archaeological
Museum (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli)
is located in Naples, Italy, at the northwest corner
of the original Greek wall of the city of Neapolis.
The museum contains a large collection of Roman artifacts
from Pompeii and Herculaneum. The collection includes
works of the highest quality produced in Greek, Roman
and Renaissance times.
The museum hosts extensive collections of Greek and
Roman antiquities. Their core is from the Farnese Collection,
which includes a collection of engraved gems (including
the Farnese Cup, a Ptolemaic bowl made of sardonyx agate
and the most famous piece in the "Treasure of the
Magnificent", and is founded upon gems collected
by Cosimo de' Medici and Lorenzo il Magnifico in the
15th century) and the Farnese Marbles.
Museum of Capodimonte
The Palace and Museum of
Capodimonte (Italian Museo di Capodimonte) is a grand
Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy, formerly the summer
residence of the kings of the Two Sicilies. It houses
the main museum and art gallery of the city.
It was built at the command of Charles
VII, king of Naples and Sicily (later Charles III, king
of Spain) and started in 1738 after a design by Giovanni
Antonio Medrano, who was also the architect of Naples'
beautiful opera house, the Teatro San Carlo. King Charles
built it expressly to house the fabulous Farnese art
collection which he had inherited from his mother, Elisabetta
Farnese, last descendant of the sovereign ducal family
of Parma.
It is the prime repository of Neapolitan
and general Italian cultural heritage in the city. The
first and second floors house the Galleria Nazionale
(National Gallery), with paintings from the 13th to
the 18th centuries including major works by Simone Martini,
Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, El Greco and many others.
The museum is by far the best place to see paintings
of the Neapolitan School, often under-appreciated by
the wider world, with large holdings of Jusepe de Ribera,
Luca Giordano, the Neapolitan Caravaggisti and many
others (see list of works in the Galleria Nazionale
di Capodimonte). Much of the ground floor is taken up
by the magnificent Farnese collection of classical,
mostly Roman, monumental sculpture, which survives here
largely intact.
Elsewhere in the palace the royal apartments
are furnished with antique 18th century furniture and
a collection of porcelain and majolica from the various
royal residences. The famous Capodimonte Porcelain Factory
was just adjacent to the palace; it was started in 1743
by the Bourbon King Charles. The palace is situated
in the Bosco di Capodimonte ('Hilltop Wood'), which
served as a royal hunting preserve. There is still a
pleasant park around the palace.
The Museum publishes a large selection
of books and pamphlets about its history and collections.
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