Paestum Attractions
Description
Venue: Museo Archeologico Nazionale When: Daily
The centre of the ground floor is given over to an exhibition documenting the series of excavations which took place at Paestum from its inital discovery in the 1750s up to the present day. Mounted well above head level on the exterior walls of this section are a series of 33 metopes (panels from the Doric temples of the ruins) which depict Homeric and other scenes including graphic depictions of battling soldiers in their death throes. The vitality of the sculpted figures is undiminished despite their age and partial weathering.
Lining the walls of the central atrium are Attic vases which were found in the burial chambers of wealthy citizens of Poseidonia. Finely drawn figures of seated gods, mythological scenes and beautiful female figures adorn the finest of them. They have the characteristic black, red and white colours of ancient greek ceramics and are very fine indeed.
The other highlight of a visit to this museum is the series of mural paintings which decorated Poseidonia's tombs. They date from around the fifth century BC and include the world famous Tomb of the Diver (pictured), one of the few surviving examples of Greek painting in the world. This famous piece consists of five panels, four of which depict the deceased accompanied into the next world by singers, dancers, games, banquets, lovers and music. The fifth panel, the lid, shows a naked youth executing a perfect dive into the blue sea below. It is an unusual allegory of death found in no other painting of the collection and it is thought the diver was a musician who had come to Paestum to practice his profession and thus as an outsider, he was given a different type of burial. Whatever the reason for its existence, nearly 3000 years later the painting is still a stunner.
The centre of the ground floor is given over to an exhibition documenting the series of excavations which took place at Paestum from its inital discovery in the 1750s up to the present day. Mounted well above head level on the exterior walls of this section are a series of 33 metopes (panels from the Doric temples of the ruins) which depict Homeric and other scenes including graphic depictions of battling soldiers in their death throes. The vitality of the sculpted figures is undiminished despite their age and partial weathering.
Lining the walls of the central atrium are Attic vases which were found in the burial chambers of wealthy citizens of Poseidonia. Finely drawn figures of seated gods, mythological scenes and beautiful female figures adorn the finest of them. They have the characteristic black, red and white colours of ancient greek ceramics and are very fine indeed.
The other highlight of a visit to this museum is the series of mural paintings which decorated Poseidonia's tombs. They date from around the fifth century BC and include the world famous Tomb of the Diver (pictured), one of the few surviving examples of Greek painting in the world. This famous piece consists of five panels, four of which depict the deceased accompanied into the next world by singers, dancers, games, banquets, lovers and music. The fifth panel, the lid, shows a naked youth executing a perfect dive into the blue sea below. It is an unusual allegory of death found in no other painting of the collection and it is thought the diver was a musician who had come to Paestum to practice his profession and thus as an outsider, he was given a different type of burial. Whatever the reason for its existence, nearly 3000 years later the painting is still a stunner.
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