• Basilicata

• Regional Parks

• Apennines

Domenico Ridola National Museum was established on 9th February 1911, with the donation to the State of the collection of archaeological finds gathered by Senator Ridola, during his long research activity.
For the exhibition of the Ridola collection, the Town gave to the State the 17th century former convent of the Clarisse, which became the first nucleus of the Museum. The materials were described by captions wrote by Ridola himself, placed in chronological order from the Paleolithic period to the Bronze Age, and displayed in wooden cases without lights. The Museum was enriched with new halls at the half of the 1950s and was further developed in 1976, when a new display was inaugurated with the materials found during the many years of research in the surroundings of Matera. The needs of restoration and documentation of the great heritage of the Ridola Museum made necessary the building of a new wing which was realized thanks to the Project FIO'85 "Matera-Cultura": in the new wing there are two exhibition halls, the labs, and the stores. Currently the Museum consists of seven exhibition halls, for a total of 2,400 square meters.

Province: Matera Region: Basilicata