The Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum in Palermo is the most important and oldest museum institution in Sicily.
Named after the archaeologist and numismatist Antonino Salinas, the museum tells the story of western Sicily from Prehistory to the Middle Ages.
It is located in the architectural complex of the congregation of the Filippini Fathers at Olivella, dating back to the seventeenth century.
Formed in 1814 as the University Museum, it became a National Museum in 1860.
In 1949, after the Second World War, the structure that had been heavily damaged was restored with a different museum rearrangement.
Those same years, the Museum was enriched with archaeological finds thanks to excavations carried out throughout Sicily.
In 1977 the National Museum of Palermo became Regional and managed by the Regional Department of Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity. From 2009 to 2018 the Museum was closed for restoration and modernization of the structure.
The museum also includes important evidence of the Phoenician and Punic civilizations, with jewelry, ceramics, and coins that tell the story of the different cultures that influenced Sicily.
The exhibition itinerary develops around two splendid cloisters.
In the Chiostro Maggiore, there are finds from excavations and acquisitions that took place between the mid-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
There are also archaeological finds from the Punic-Roman period found in nearby Solunto.
Along the northern portico, in the left wing, the torso of the Stagnone of Marsala, the Phoenician sarcophagi of the Cannita and the colossal statue of Zeus of Solunto are exhibited. Positioned in the large niches of the cells of the same lane are the gigantic sculptures of Solunto and Tindari.
An entire section is dedicated to the exhibition of goldsmiths from the necropolis of Tindari.
There is also a collection of the English consul Robert Fagan which includes a fragment of the eastern frieze of the Parthenon and figured vases from the necropolis of Agrigento.
With the reopening in 2018, a new exhibition space was inaugurated around the third courtyard of the convent, called “Agorà”. The courtyard, covered in glass and steel, is now a multifunctional space used for conferences, temporary exhibitions and concerts. Currently the 17 lion’s eaves of the temple of Victory in Himera and the large mask of the Gorgon of temple C of Selinunte are on display.
Of considerable interest is the large hall, which was the refectory of the Filipino Fathers. Here are exhibited the famous metopes of the temples of Selinunte, one of the most important complexes of Western Greek art together with the temple called “C” in the same area. The sculptural complex depicts on the left: the quadriga with Apollo, Artemis and Leto, in the center: Perseus killing the jellyfish, and on the right: Heracles and the Cercopes.
Of great interest are the votive materials from the Sanctuary of Demeter Malophorose and the stele dedicated to Zeus Meilichios.
One of the most important pieces in the collection is the Palermo Stone, an important testimony of Egyptian civilization.
The Palermo Stele or Palermo Stone, is a fragment of a black diorite stele. It is an important historical source that lists the rulers of the first five Egyptian dynasties, along with significant events and measurements of the Nile.
