Museo Archeologico Provinciale Francesco Ribezzo di Brindisi

Established in 1884 in the municipal building of the “San Giovanni al Sepolcro” Temple with the intention to host the numerous finds from excavations made in the city, the Museum named after Francis Ribezzo, a scholar of Messapica civilization, soon became a reference point for local archeology. The first building of the Museum soon became inadequate, therefore it was decided, by the Provincial Administration to acquire the spaces left by the old hospital adjacent to the Cathedral and converted into the museum building. During the work, interesting discoveries were made from the subsoil. The new museum was opened in 1958 and merged into, beyond the civic collection, many antiquities that surfaced during the building works in the old town and in the villages of Province. Meanwhile, having already vacated spaces for offices, the museum has been able to find new rooms and spaces for exhibitions. The so-called Templar Knights Porch, completed with a line of modern imitations (1954), forms the entrance to the museum. The tour of the new museum, opened in early 2009, starts from the porch, runs through two floors leading the visitor to discover the civilizations that have followed the occupation of the territory from prehistory until the Roman period.