Museum of History and Transformation of the Landscape – Maiella National Park
The Archaeological Area of Iuvanum
The path “I monti dei Carricini”
Megalithic walls
The Evangelical Church
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives
Piazza Benedetto Croce and the War Memorial
The Church of San Martino and Santa Giusta
Houses of the families Croce and De Thomasis
San Vito Church the former burial ground of the Croce family
The Gustav Line and the massacres (the massacre in Vallone Cupo and the massacre of Candlemas)
ENG - Audio Guide | Iuvanum Museum
ITA - Audioguida | Il Museo di Iuvanum
Iuvanum Museum
The Museum and the Archaeological Area of Iuvanum are two pieces of the same fascinating mosaic picturing the history of the site, from the period of Sanniti Carricini, IV-III century B.C., to the Imperial Rome in I-II century a.C. and the following Christian era of VI century A.D. The items for the cult of Gods shown in the museum date to those periods, like some small bronze statues of Hercules and objects for self-care, among which jewels, bracelets, pins, ceramics, mirrors, pots for balms, a bronze and silver horse harness and many others. The findings of the archaeological excavations are displayed in the Museum with some explanatory panels by the archaeologists of the Superintendence and of the University of Chieti-Pescara.
The Museum has been built near the Acropolis and was opened in 2006. Among its antiques, the VI century B.C. kit of the “Italic Warrior” stands out; it was found in the nearby town of Torricella Peligna. It includes a bronze helmet, a dagger, some rings, a collar and two “kardiophylakes” disks, that are shields for the heart, on which a Sannite Chimera with four symmetrical paws is engraved, which protected the life of the warrior in the battles. The helm with side studs, decorated with embossed stylised ram horns dates back to the end of VII and beginning of VI century B.C. and is unique in the whole territory of Abruzzo. It is a complete panoply, more ancient than the Capestrano warrior, representing the typical heroic virtues of Sanniti people, as witnessed by the ancient Latin writers Tito Livio and Plinio il Vecchio.
The lapidary museum keeps the archaeological finds from the site in front of the Maiella massif. It is worth to mention a sacrifice altar, a small basement of the imperial period dedicated to Diana, the goddess of hunting, which has a deer and a dog on its sides. A stone pedestal with the name of the builders engraved is dedicated to the goddess Victoria. Another II century A.D. limestone block keeps the memory of the “games” and banquets offered to the members of the Senate of Iuvanum and a III century A.D. sarcophagus for a 16 years old boy, with a mourning poem in hexameters written by his parents which was found in 1980.
[Credits | Text: Ottavio Di Renzo De Laurentis | Translation: Mirella Rapa | Voice and music: Studio Qreate | Photo: Laura Di Biase]
