Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples

The Naples National Archaeological Museum, founded in 1585, is located at the northeast corner of the original Greek wall of the ancient city Neacropolis. In 1777, King Ferdinand commissioned Ferdinando Fuga to renovate the museum's building to accommodate the Bourbon Museum and Royal Library. Soon finds from Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae filled the museum; artifacts which take pride of place today, and by 1816 the Royal Bourbon Museum boasted an enviable collection combining the hallowed Farnese Collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, as well as important Vesuvian finds. There is also an important collection of epigraphs, including the bronze Tablets of Heraclea, from 300 BC.

The Farnese Marbles comprise a large part of the excellent collection, as do bronzes and mosaics. This includes the Cabinet of Obscene Objects; opened in 1817 only to men with expressed permission. There is also an extensive Egyptian display which is primarily concerned with two collections; those of Cardinal Borgia (from the second half of the 18th century) and Picchianti (early 19th).

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