Museo nazionale di Ravenna

The National Museum of Ravenna, established in 1885, was housed in the prestigious setting of the former Benedictine Monastery of San Vitale, in the early twentieth century. The original component of the museum consisted of the collections made during the eighteenth century, by the Camaldolese Monks, and were also enriched through donations, acquisitions, discoveries and excavations. The museum currently appears to have a set of heterogeneous collections, divided into three main groups: Lapidary, finds from excavations and collections of art. The Lapidary which is located mostly along the path of the two cloisters of the monastery and consists of an interesting collection of epitaphs and tombstones and stone artifacts from Roman, early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. In the upper floors are the archeological materials and mosaics from the area surrounding area of Ravenna and the collection of so-called minor arts. Also part of the collection are bronze plaques, ivory, symbols, weapons and armor as well as ceramics. In addition, the museum also houses the important fourteenth-century frescoes taken from the ancient church of Santa Chiara in Ravenna done by Pietro da Rimini.