The Antiqvarivm Arborense Museum of Oristano keeps finds from the prehistoric period to the Medieval age.

Museum’s itinerary is on two floors. In the ground floor the temporary exhibition “The Island of Herakles”: it shows the myth of Hercules in the Mediterranean area through several valuable finds; in the second floor there is an exposition of prehistorical, protohistorical and Nuragic finds from Sinis’ peninsula, that is to say lithic tools made with obsidian and flint, ceramic manufactures for daily and ritual use, hammers, lance’s points and bronze votive quivers; and also cinerary urns and Punic and Phoenician tomb outfits (seventeenth- third century B.C.) coming from the ancient city of Tharros, one of the most important commercial ports in the Mediterranean sea. Splendour and cosmopolitan nature of this rich urban centre are testified by iron arms, plates, jugs, clay statuettes, the horrid mask, Etruscan and Greek ceramics and Herakle’s bust.
The last section shows Roman early Christian and early Middle Ages’ finds (second century B.C./seventeenth century A.D.).
Very interesting is also the painting room, showing works as San Martino painting (fifteenth century), Santo Cristo painting (1533, by Pietro Cavaro from Cagliari), Madonna dei Consiglieri painting (1565, by Antioco Mainas from Cagliari).
This collection is completed by the reconstructive plastic models of Tharros (fourth century A.D.) and Oristano (fifteenth century A.D.).

ITINERARIES TO VISIT
MONUMENTS AND CHURCHS IN ORISTANO
Oristano has a charming historical centre, with its churches, monuments and towers that date back to the medieval age.
The tickets have the same price as for Museum’s visit.
First itinerary: it starts from the Antiquarium Arborense Museum, goes on towards the church and monastery of Santa Chiara (built on commission of Pietro III of Arborea before 1345), the medieval tower of Portixedda (built at the end of the thirteenth century on commission of Mariano II of Arborea), the Ruga de sosJudeos (artery of the popular Jewish quarter), the church of Carmine and the annexed Convent planned by Giuseppe Viana in 1776, and finally Piazza Manno.

Second itinerary: starting from Piazza Manno, it goes on towards the Cathedral of Santa Maria, the Seminario Tridentino, the church of SS. Trinità, the church and convent of San Francesco (built in the second half of the twelfth century), Pinacoteca Comunale (formerly, in Giudicati’s age, it was the hospital of Sant’Antonio), Piazza Eleonora, Convento degli Scolopi, Via Dritta (Ruga Maista), Piazza Roma, Torre di San Cristoforo (built in 1291 on commission of Mariano II of Arborea) and finally the Antiquarium Arborense Museum.

HISTORICAL ARCHIVES OF ORISTANO
The Historical Archives are placed in Convento degli Scolopi in Piazza Eleonora d’Arborea, and offer an extraordinary summary of Oristano’s history from 1479 to the first half of the twentieth century.
You can see documents as: The Book of Privileges, that Spanish sovereigns gave the city; the Llibres de Concelleria, that is a deliberations’ collection of Civic Council beginning from the sixteenth century; the parchments by Spanish sovereigns and pontiffs’ chancellery; restructure’s projects of the city in the twentieth century; deliberations of the podestà during the Fascism, and other historical testimonies.
The Archives also preserves fragments by religious and legal miniated codes, and from libraries of Oristano in the Middle Ages (the Age of Giudicati).
All the documents about the ancient royal city are entirely digitized, so they are available via computer.
For further information about the access to the Archives, contact the Antiquarium Arborense Museum.

Visiting hours:
July, from 3 to 25

Till September 15th 

From September on

 Tickets:

full- fare Euro 3,00; half- fare Euro 1,50 (groups over 10 people and boys 6-18 years old); Euro 1,00 over 65 years old and students; gratis 0-6 years old.

The guided visit, included in the ticket, is available in English and French language.