Type:

Luoghi della cultura; Ente/Istituzione

Category:

Archaeology museums

Oderzos Archaeological Museum Eno Bellis is situated in the Barchessa of Palazzo Foscolo. The urban structure of the ancient town of Opitergium, an important economic and administrative centre during the ancient Veneto and Roman ages, originated from the 10th century B.C. and remained as it was until the 7th century AD. Museum collections started in the late 19th century when early findings were supplemented with donations from local families. More recently, other artefacts were added.
Objects are displayed by order of ages: the first floor houses artefacts of the Pre-Roman Age from the town and its surrounding area. Special features of this section are two decorative animal-shaped terracotta statues, some small bronze figurines of charging warriors, Venetic inscriptions and the Tomb 49, containing the complete skeleton of a stallion with his rich iron and bronze harness fittings. The first floor also houses the full scale reconstruction of drainage systems using amphorae dating back to the Roman Age and the main amphora specimen found locally.
The Roman age itinerary continues on the ground floor with artefacts of the Romans everyday life, tombstones (many of which decorated with memorial busts), a collection of coins and small bronze statues, some valuable portraits and famous mosaics of the Late antiquity. Eight fragments pertaining to the so-called hunting mosaic depict scenes from daily life and hunting activities, as well as two other fragments portraying a cup-bearer and a hare-hunting scene.
There are several evocative open-air archaeological sites scattered around the town centre. Four sites are particularly worth mentioning: the Forum area contains the remains of a Forum of the Earlier Roman Imperial Age and of a big domus (house); the area of the former jails, situated inside a renowned restaurant; the area of Via dei Mosaici, where the lower part of two wells and the mosaic paving of a noble dwelling are preserved; and the area between Piazza Grande and Piazza Castello, where a tunnel has been built inside a modern building between the squares to show visitors the remains of one of the two main Roman town roads and paved floor displayed vertically.