With the opening of the last room, Archaeological Museum in Zagreb has presented its new permanent exhibition of ancient artefacts. The museum collection contains over 40,000 items from the times of ancient Rome and Greece, and the new selection has now been presented to the public. In the last room, visitors will be able to explore Roman burial customs and the development of Christianity which ultimately became the state religion. The exhibited artefacts originate from a number of Croatian sites, but also from some of the neighbouring countries.
Exhibits presented in this last room are divided into two parts. The first area displays the traces of Roman funerary practices: visitors will be able to see archaeological finds from Roman necropolis found in Croatia, including funeral urns and tombstones. Among them are characteristic Latobici ceramic urns found in the area of Žumberak, intact glass urns with preserved remains of the deceased, as well as numerous inscriptions dedicated to the memory of the deceased – touching traces of human destiny.
The second large display area includes objects and monuments which can be linked to the rise and spread of Christianity, primarily in the area of Pannonia, although there are exhibits from Dalmatia as well. Among them, particularly interesting is a marble altar top from Salona depicting Christ, the apostles and evangelists, but also many other well-known late antique and early Christian artefacts, including a brick engraved with a Christogram from an unknown Pannonian site, bronze lamps in the shape of a stylized lamb with a Constantinian monogram and luxurious silver fibula from Selci Đakovački.
The antique collection at the Zagreb Archaeological Museum was significantly improved last year when after 40 years the “head of a girl”, also known as “the woman from Solin”, which appears to be a portrait of Empress Fulvia Plautilla, was again included in the permanent exhibition.
