The Civic Museum of Bari was founded in 1913. During the Second World War the museum was seized by the Anglo-American troops and became a recreation centre for soldiers. The museum re-opened some years later in different locations of Bari in Largo Urbano II, near the Basilica of San Nicola.
In 1977 the museum was moved into Strada Sagges 13 and the collection trasferred to the present premises. The old palace which houses the museum is located on the edge of the early medieval core of the city, in an area full of archaeological finds. The building consists of a three-storey tower, which connects to the Petroni arch, thus representing a fortified complex, which is typical of medieval palace houses.
The Civic Museum’s vast heritage includes a lot of artistic goods and documents donated by the Tanzi family in 1935. They show some famous members of the family which came to Bari along with Isabella Sforza d’Aragona. The archive represents a great source of information for the reconstruction of the city and region’s history starting from the 16th century to the early 20th century. It also represents a dense network of information about the evolution of the political, economic, commercial and social structure in the land of Bari during different historical phases.
From the rich collection of relics exhibited in 1913 only few evidences have survived and are almost all war-related objects. The collection includes valuable examples of cold weapons and firearms from the Bourbon period, from the National Guard, from brigandage and from the modern period.
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