The Provincial Archaeological Museum of Orense is a provincial museum, located in the city of Orense , dedicated to narrating the history and culture of this territory. It is owned by the Ministry of Culture (currently the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports ) and its management is transferred to the Xunta de Galicia
The current museum has its origins in 1845, when the Provincial Commission of Monuments created the Museum of Paintings of Orense which opened its doors on November 1, 1846. 4 In May 1895 The Commission itself decided to create a provincial archaeological museum that would bring together the works of the previous museum and the archaeological pieces that had been discovered in the province of Orense . It was established a year later, in 1896. As of 1904, it will have as its headquarters the Provincial Instruction Center (today the Otero Pedrayo Institute). In December 1927, a fire affected part of the collection and seriously affected its headquarters.
In early 2002, the museum was closed to the public for renovation work. Museum services were moved to the Santa María de Europa building in the A Caballeira neighborhood, which houses most of the collections. The Museum library there continues to serve students and the general public.
A selection of the most representative sculpture under the title of "Sculpture Anthology" has been permanently displayed since May 2006 in the exhibition hall of the San Francisco Convent, which also serves as the venue for other specific activities, such as the "Piece of the month".
The Museum occupies the old Episcopal Palace of Orense, a building located in the Plaza Mayor of the city of Orense, which due to its characteristics was declared a National Monument in 1931 (currently BIC).
Recent excavations have uncovered the Roman occupation of the site - the city's original period - as well as remains from the early medieval period, prior to what is currently built. In the 12th century, the factory of the current building began, conserved in its nucleus with a cloister with an L-shaped plan to which another unit was added in the 13th century, whose construction - conceived as a fortress that is estimated to have had six towers - runs parallel to that of the Auriense Cathedral and its workshops of Compostela influence.
It is considered a fundamentally archaeological museum, although it also has sections of fine arts, decorative arts and documentaries (the ethnographic section has been part of the Ethno-toxic Museum of Ribadavia since 1993).
Its funds originate from the Provincial Monuments Commission, to which were added other results of donations and archaeological interventions linked to the Museum itself or to the research activity of the Marcelo Macías Group and more recently to its character as a receiving center for the management archeology.
Through its collections it is possible to explore the culture and societies of its territory up to the present, where its collection of castrexa plastic and the epigraphic collection have a prominent character.
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