Tarquinia National Museum historical timeline

Last updated on October 9, 2026

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The museum and its building have separate histories that only meet in 1924. One is a 15th-century cardinal's palace that became a papal lodging, then a hotel; the other is two 19th-century collections, one private and one municipal, that the State eventually put together.

Chronology

1436-1439 Palazzo Vitelleschi is built for Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi under Eugenius IV, incorporating earlier houses and stretches of the old walls of Corneto Vecchio. Work continues until 1460-90, and the stylistic unevenness of the facade and courtyard is attributed to the phases or to a change of architect.
1400s-1500s After the cardinal's death the palace is confiscated and used by popes, Leo X among them. At the end of the 16th century Cardinal Charles d'Angennes de Rambouillet, governor for Sixtus V, modernises it; it then passes to the Soderini, under whom it becomes a hotel.
1869 Countess Giustina Bruschi founds a museum of local antiquities at Corneto, the old name of Tarquinia.
1872 The Sarcophagus of the Amazons leaves the Bruschi holdings for Florence.
1874 The comune begins excavating on the Monterozzi, building up a civic collection alongside the private one.
1900 The city of Tarquinia buys Palazzo Vitelleschi.
1913 The State acquires the Bruschi collection, minus the sarcophagus already gone to Florence.
1916 The comune hands the palace to the Italian State, which intends it for a museum and installs a first Antiquarium.
1924 The Museo archeologico nazionale di Tarquinia opens, formed by merging the municipal collection with that of the counts Bruschi-Falgari.
1938 The Cavalli alati, a high relief of winged horses, is found at the Ara della Regina and goes on display in the museum in the autumn of the same year.
1944 On 17 January a bomb hits the palace and damages it seriously. Careful restoration follows after the war.
1950s The paintings of the Tombs of the Triclinium, the Ship, the Bigas and the Olympic Games are detached from the Monterozzi necropolis for conservation and remounted in the museum on frames reconstructing the burial chambers.
1964 A coin hoard is discovered near the great temple and enters the museum's medagliere.

Verified against Wikipedia, October 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — Palazzo Vitelleschi, wanted by Cardinal Giovanni Maria Vitelleschi and built between 1436 and 1439 with the works completed only in 1460-90, is considered one of the principal Renaissance palaces of Lazio; it was built incorporating parts of pre-existing buildings, such as a group of houses towards via Mazzini, a large wall by the steps of the ancient walls of Corneto Vecchio, and a good part of the wall towards piazza Soderini, and the stylistic unevenness, clearly visible on the facade and in the courtyard, is due either to the different building phases or to a change of architect during the work, After the cardinal's death Palazzo Vitelleschi was confiscated and used by some pontiffs, among them Leo X; at the end of the sixteenth century it was modernised by Cardinal Charles d'Angennes de Rambouillet, at the time governor for Sixtus V, and finally passed to the Soderini family; at the beginning of the twentieth century the Comune passed it to the State, which set up a first Antiquarium there, and the installation of the seat of the Museo archeologico nazionale di Tarquinia in the palace dates to 1924; on 17 January 1944 it was hit by a bomb which damaged it seriously, requiring careful restoration after the war, The nucleus of the Tarquinia collections is nineteenth-century: in 1869 Countess Giustina Bruschi had founded at Corneto a museum of local antiquities whose substantial holdings, with the exception of the Sarcophagus of the Amazons which passed to Florence in 1872, were acquired by the State in 1913, while in parallel the excavations conducted by the Comune on the Monterozzi from 1874 had fed a civic collection; the museum, born of the fusion of the municipal collection with that of the counts Bruschi-Falgari, was inaugurated in 1924 and has since been constantly enriched with material from the excavations of the ancient city and the necropoleis, The Palazzo Vitelleschi was built between 1436 and 1439 for the cardinal of Corneto, the former name of Tarquinia, after whose death the palace was used as a stopover for the popes; over time the Soderini family became its new owner and it was turned into a hotel, in 1900 it was acquired by the city of Tarquinia which donated it to the Italian state in 1916, and the state intended the palace for the museum, which opened in 1924 as the result of the merger of the Municipal Collection and the private collection of the counts Bruschi-Falgari, The palace housing the Tarquinia museum was built between 1436 and 1439 at the wish of Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi under the pontificate of Eugenius IV and is one of the principal monuments of the early Renaissance in Lazio; it served among other things as lodging for the popes on their stops at Corneto, then passed to the Soderini, and in 1900 was bought by the Comune, which in 1916 handed it to the State so that the museum could be installed in it, The route at the Tarquinia museum runs over the three floors of the palace: the ground floor holds stone sculpture, with the sarcophagi of the great Tarquinian families of the late Classical and Hellenistic age including those of the Magnate, the Obeso and Laris Pulenas; the first floor displays the grave goods of the necropoleis, from Villanovan material to imported Greek ceramics, together with the celebrated high relief of the Cavalli alati, found in 1938 at the Ara della Regina and exhibited at the museum from the autumn of that same year, and the medagliere, into which also flowed the coin hoard discovered in 1964 near the great temple; on the second floor are recomposed the paintings of some famous tombs of the Monterozzi, such as those of the Triclinium, the Ship, the Biga and the Olympic Games, detached in the 1950s for conservation reasons and remounted on frames reconstructing the burial chambers (October 2026).
Checked against Comune di Tarquinia — In a case in the Salone delle Feste at the Museo archeologico nazionale di Tarquinia are gathered a selection of Etruscan bronze coins, cast and struck, and gold coins of the late imperial period found in the excavations of the Roman colony of Gravisca, deduced in 181 B.C., together with gold jewellery executed with the granulation technique (October 2026).

Tarquinia National Museum historical timeline

Chronology

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