Archaeological Section

The Archaeological Section is housed in the crypt, under the apse of the Church of San Francesco. The items displayed there, dating from the 1st century BC to the 16th century AD, come from the Montefalco area and attest to its occupation from as early as the Roman era.

HISTORY IN THE STONES

Archaeological Section

Most of the items were found during restoration and refurbishment work in buildings dating from the Mediaeval period, around the time the city was founded (11th-12th centuries).
Finds from the Roman era can be dated between the 1st century BC and the 4th century AD. The oldest is the lid of a sandstone cinerary urn, with an inscription written in Latin and Umbrian alphabet; it dates from between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. The Statue of Hercules, believed to be a copy of a Greek piece from the 4th century BC, dates from the 1st century BC. Hercules is shown naked, leaning on a gnarled club with his right hand. The ‘leonte’ (the skin of a Nemean lion) on his left arm and the apples of the Hesperides in his left hand, recall two of the twelve labours performed by the hero. The white marble statue was restored, probably in the 18th century, using pieces of Italic marble.

The Lunense-type white marble slab, with relief decoration, is of considerable importance and dates from the 1st century AD. It features a motif that was very popular, above all in Corinthian art: a large acanthus head with leaves and a central flower, from which curled tendrils branch out symmetrically in large scrolls. In the Middle Ages, the slab became an altar table, as can be seen in the inscription on the upper side, and was later carved and stripped of part of its decoration to adapt it to a washbasin. The inscriptions, mostly of a funerary nature, are important for historical knowledge of the area.