Description of the attraction
The Temple of Minerva is an ancient Roman temple located in the town of Spinera in the province of Brescia. It stands on the rocky bank of the Olio River and faces a natural cave with a spring.
Already in the era of the Iron Age, religious ceremonies and rituals were performed in this place - there was a small sanctuary, which was a cobbled platform for performing the rituals of burning. After the Romanization of the entire territory of the province of Brescia, a Roman temple dedicated to the goddess Minerva was erected on the site of a pagan sanctuary in the 1st century. The ancient temple, built next to the older one, consisted of a number of rooms, resting on the rock, and a portico facing the river and bounding the courtyard. In the main hall, in a raised niche, stood a statue of the goddess Minerva, a Roman copy of a Greek statue from the 5th century BC.
In the 4th century A. D. the process of Christianization of the Val Camonica valley began, which put an end to the cult of Minerva. A hundred years later, the temple was destroyed in a terrible fire, and the pagan statue was beheaded. Later, in the 13th century, after the flood of the Olo River, the territory of the temple was covered with muddy deposits and was finally abandoned.
Only in 1986, the ruins of an ancient Roman temple were accidentally discovered during excavation during the laying of pipes. Interestingly, despite the fact that the location of the temple was forgotten, the memory of it has been preserved - the nearby church bears the name of the Virgin Mary, but local peasants have always called it the Church of Minerva. In 2004, work began on the restoration of the temple, information boards were installed and excursion routes were laid, and in 2007 the Minerva Temple was officially turned into a museum. A copy of the statue of the goddess was placed here, the original of which is exhibited at the National Museum of Val Camonica in the town of Cividate Camuno.
