Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Egnazia, Bari

Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Egnazia, Bari

The Archaeological Park and Museum of Egnazia is a historical site with ruins of Egnatia or Gnathia, an important commercial town on the Adriatic coast that has been inhabited since the Late Bronze Age (13th century BC), and flourished till it was ravaged by the Goths led by Totila in 545 AD.

The Archaeological Park and Museum of Egnazia is a historical site with ruins of Egnatia or Gnathia, an important commercial town on the Adriatic coast that has been inhabited since the Late Bronze Age (13th century BC), and flourished till it was ravaged by the Goths led by Totila in 545 AD.

The early settlement area is surrounded by 7 metre high defensive walls running along 2 kilometres, originally from the Messapian era and reinforced several times subsequently. Greek influence is evident in the agora style piazza in the acropolis, before the site became Romanized. The paved Via Traiana from 109 AD ran through the heart of Gnathia, surrounded by buildings such as the Civic Basilica of the Three Graces, the Shrine of Eastern Divinities, the amphitheatre, forum, and the cryptoporticus, an underground portico with four arms perpendicular to each other in a square, that was used as a public granary. There are ruins of shops, houses, baths, kilns and workshops, as well as early Christian churches which give an idea of the general layout at the time. Outside the walls lies the Messapian Western necropolis with rock-cut tombs, some of which have exquisite frescoes. The Museum showcases various excavated finds from site, including works of the seminal ceramica di Gnathia type of vase painting, with polychrome paintings on a black-coated surface.