MUSA - Historical-Archaeological Museum of the University of Salento

MUSA - Historical-Archaeological Museum is located a few steps from the historic center of the city of Lecce and was inaugurated in 2007. The university museum is managed by the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Salento. MUSA documents and valorises the results of research activities carried out by the archaeologists and ancient historians of the University of Lecce.

The MUSA exhibition includes archaeological finds from the University's excavation activities but also reconstructions of ancient contexts, and re-proposes the fundamental stages of a long growth path that has seen the continuous updating of the horizons of historical-archaeological research, from prehistory to the Middle Ages and from Salento to the Eastern Mediterranean, but also the constant increase of skills and laboratory equipment aimed at the study of antiquity by the University of Salento.

In the visit itinerary, divided into five rooms, ample space is given to the archaeological investigations conducted in the Salento area, through an itinerary that starts from prehistory and reaches the Middle Ages (rooms 1-4).

In the last room (room 5), excavations, surveys and studies on materials are presented, many of which are still ongoing today, involving numerous archaeological sites in Italy and in various areas of the Mediterranean basin (Turkey, Ukraine, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, Malta, Iran).

The archaeological materials on display come directly from the University's field activities and therefore retain a strong link with their context of origin, recreated in the Museum with the help of models, casts and 3D videos.