The "Luigi Pigorini" National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography is a public and research museum located in Rome, Italy. Established in 1875 and opened in 1876 by Luigi Pigorini, from 2016, it is one of the four museums inside the Museum of Civilizations' network, and is currently directed by Andrea Viliani. The museum was housed in the Collegio Romano from 1875 to 1923.
Holdings
By the time of Pigorini's death in 1925, the museum had amassed more than 170,000 items.
One important collection of the Pigorini houses is Neolithic artifacts from Lake Bracciano. Another is the early ethnographic collection of Athanasius Kircher. The museum also conserves the Praeneste fibula, the oldest known inscription in the Latin language.
References
Further reading
Brizzi, Bruno [ed.] 1976 The Pigorini Museum Rome, Quasar. 424 page catalogue with hundreds of plates in colour and black and white.