Museo Archeologico Antiquarium Arborense

Oristano


Oristano’s principal museum has one of the island’s major archaeological collections, with prehistoric artefacts from the Sinis Peninsula and finds from Carthaginian and Roman Tharros. There's also a small collection of retabli (painted altarpieces), including the 16th-century Retablo del Santo Cristo, from the workshop of Pietro Cavaro. It depicts a group of apparently beatific saints, but look closer and you’ll see they all sport the instruments of their torture slicing through their heads, necks and hearts.

The permanent collection, which includes a scale model of 4th-century Tharros, is displayed on the upper floor. Here you'll find prehistoric obsidian and flint spearheads, axes, bones and a smattering of jewellery from the Sinis Peninsula. More interesting, though, is the stash of finds from Tharros, which includes ceramics, glassware, oil lamps, amphorae and a range of pots, plates and cups.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Oristano attractions

1. Piazza Eleonora d’Arborea

0.07 MILES

Oristano’s elegant outdoor salon sits at the southern end of pedestrianised Corso Umberto I. An impressive, rectangular space, it comes to life on summer…

2. Statue of Eleonora

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Piazza Eleonora d'Arborea became the city's central square through 19th-century urban reforms. Today it is a quiet spot where you can sit beneath the…

3. Municipio

0.07 MILES

Oristano's town hall overlooks the elegant focal square, Piazza Eleonora d'Arborea.

4. Torre di Mariano II

0.11 MILES

Little survives of the medieval walled town except for a pair of towers. This 13th-century beauty, known also as the Torre di Cristoforo, was the town’s…

5. Chiesa di San Francesco

0.13 MILES

The 14th-century Crocifisso di Nicodemo, considered one of Sardinia’s most precious carvings, is the highlight of this 19th-century neoclassical church…

6. Torre di Portixedda

0.15 MILES

This tower, just off Via Giuseppe Mazzini, was part of the city's medieval walls, most of which were pulled down in the 19th century. It's now used to…

7. Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta

0.16 MILES

Lording it over Oristano’s skyline, the Duomo's onion-domed bell tower is one of the few remaining elements of the original 14th-century cathedral, itself…

8. Pinacoteca Carlo Contini

0.19 MILES

Oristano's municipal art gallery has a small but interesting permanent collection of Sardinian paintings, together with rotating exhibits by local artists.