Museo della statuaria preistorica in Sardegna

The Museo della statuaria preistorica in Sardegna, also known as the Menhir Museum or Civic Archaeological Museum of the Menhir Statues, is a specialized archaeological museum located in the village of Laconi, Sardinia, Italy. Housed in the nineteenth-century Aymerich Palace, the museum holds a unique collection of menhir statues, or steles, discovered in the Laconi area beginning in 1969. It stands as the primary institution dedicated to the preservation and study of Sardinia's prehistoric statuary, with particular significance for understanding the island's pre-Nuragic cultures.

The museum's origins trace to 1969, when Professor Enrico Atzeni discovered the first Sardinian menhir statue at Genna Arrele I. This initial find sparked a prolonged sequence of exceptional discoveries across the Laconi countryside. The museum institution itself was inaugurated in November 1996 within the nineteenth-century Municipal Palace, initially displaying 40 menhir statues from the Laconi area. Following the municipality of Laconi's purchase and subsequent restoration of the Aymerich Palace, the museum relocated to this more spacious neoclassical residence in 2010. The new installation expanded the collection to include statues from Villa Sant'Antonio, Allai, and Samugheo. In 2020, the museum introduced an innovative audio guide system using QR codes to enhance visitor experience.

The museum's holdings center on menhir statues, anthropomorphic stone stelae that represent one of Sardinia's distinctive prehistoric art forms. The collection encompasses 44 menhir statues in the current exhibition, drawn from multiple territories. These range from iconic to aniconic anthropomorphic forms, carved primarily from local ignimbrite. The chronological span extends from the early metal age through the archaic phases of the ancient Bronze Age, approximately 2700 to 1800 BC. The collection also includes significant funerary artifacts from associated Neolithic and early metal age burial contexts, representing cultures including Abealzu-Filigosa, Bonnannaro, and Bell Beaker. Bronze figurines, or bronzetti, represent another component, with approximately 500 surviving examples across Sardinia; these small votive statuettes depict humans and animals, with the oldest dating to 1200-1100 BC and the most recent to 900-700 BC.

The signature works are the menhir statues themselves, beginning with the first discovery at Genna Arréle in 1969, described by Atzeni as lying isolated on the edge of an agricultural road. Subsequent finds at Perda Iddocca, Barrili, Palas De Nuraxi, Piscina 'e Sali, Bau Carradore, and Nuraxi Orrùbiu have enriched the collection. The three statues from Allai, originating from the larger Pranu Orisa group, display three distinct typological shapes. From Samugheo, at Paule Lutùrru and Cuccuru De Lai, come fragmentary stelae found in secondary context within dry stone walls near a Nuragic giants' grave and single-tower nuraghe, alongside approximately one hundred fragments of iconic and aniconic anthropomorphic statues. The funerary assemblages from Pranu 'e Arranas necropolis, the Dolmen of Corte Noa, and the circle tomb of Masone 'e Perdu provide important contextual material. The nineteenth-century wallpapers from the Joseph Dufour manufacture, including 'Greek and Olympic Games Festival' and 'Paris Monuments,' constitute significant non-archaeological holdings preserved on the noble floor.

The museum occupies the Aymerich Palace, a neoclassical rural residence inaugurated in 1846 for the Marquises of Laconi. The Aymerich family arrived in Sardinia in 1323 with Prince Alfonso of Aragon's expedition to occupy the island, and they exercised preeminent influence over local affairs for approximately 500 years. The palace was designed by Gaetano Cima, a Cagliari architect responsible for the main body, facade, and Palatine chapel. The building spreads across three floors with a neoclassical facade punctuated by windows and balconies, covering over 5,000 square meters. The interior preserves precious nineteenth-century wallpapers from the French printing house Maison Dufour on the noble floor. The palace also contains a rare intact neoclassical noble chapel with an octagonal plan, fluted stucco and painted columns, and a well-preserved wooden altar.

The museum is located in Laconi, a municipality in central Sardinia, Italy. The exhibition is arranged across three levels and eleven rooms within the Aymerich Palace. The ground floor contains the initial menhir statue display, a reproduction of a quarry for statue production, and the restored Aymerich family chapel. Visitors proceed through external courtyards to the second floor, where additional menhir statues and funerary artifacts are displayed. The first floor, or noble floor, showcases the Joseph Dufour wallpapers and hosts temporary exhibitions. The museum is owned by the municipality of Laconi and operates as a civic cultural institution. Its website is https://www.menhirmuseum.it/.