Welcome to the site Napoliforme

It is the oldest archaeological museum in Europe and one of the most important in the world for the richness of its collections and the history behind its creation. It occupies the Renaissance building that was originally intended to house the cavalry, then converted into a university building (the former "palazzo dei Regi Studi") and finally into a museum, following the decision (1777) of King Ferdinand I of Bourbon to create a museum dedicated not only to the ancient art collections, but also to institutions such as the Bourbon Library, the Academy of Fine Arts and the Neapolitan Astronomical Observatory, later transferred to other locations, made accessible after years of adjustment work and the demanding transport of the sculptures from Rome. In the Royal Bourbon Museum (1816), artefacts recovered from the Bourbon excavations at Herculaneum (from 1738), Pompeii, Stabiae and the other ancient Vesuvian cities are collected, catalogued and displayed, together with the royal collections, starting with the Farnese collection inherited by Charles, the first Bourbon King of Naples (1734-1759), from his mother Elisabeth Farnese and then passed on to his son Ferdinand: an extraordinary nucleus of sculptures, including the Hercules, the Flora and the Farnese Bull. Enriched by the acquisition of other collections and reorganised, after the Unification of Italy the Museum became the National Archaeological Museum (1871).