Description of the attraction
Odessa Archaeological Museum, one of the oldest in the country, was founded in 1825. Now the museum contains over 160 thousand exhibits, which are the largest collection of sources on the ancient history of the Northern Black Sea region. In addition, there are collections of monuments of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome, coins and medals.
The best examples of antique sculpture are displayed in the lobby of a building specially built for the museum in 1883. The flourishing of ancient civilization is evidenced by painted vessels, terracotta sculptures, inscriptions, and handicraft items that the museum has. The culture of the Scythian tribes that lived at that time in the steppes of the Black Sea region is represented by materials from settlements and burials, weapons, bronze cauldrons and other utensils, ornaments.
Authentic items made of precious metals are exhibited in the "Golden Pantry" of the museum, the oldest of which date back to the beginning of the second millennium BC. Decorations from Scythian and Sarmatian burial grounds, medieval burials of nomads, products of Slavic craftsmen attract attention.
Of the 50 thousand coins stored in the museum, the rarest gold and silver coins produced in Ancient Greece, Rome, Byzantium are on display. In the section of Russian numismatics, coins are displayed starting with the first - "gold coin" of Prince Vladimir and ending with the minting of the last tsars, as well as memorial medals.
The collection of Egyptian antiquities is the third largest in the former USSR. Wooden and stone sarcophagi, grave goods, stone slabs and fragments of papyri with hieroglyphs are of interest here.
