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MUPRE-The National Prehistory Museum of Valle Camonica
Why a National Prehistory Museum in the Valley of the Engravings?
Valle Camonica is world famous for its extraordinary complex of rock engravings, most of which are prehistoric in date. Although the general public is aware of this iconographic inheritance left by the valley’s ancient inhabitants, knowledge concerning their daily lives - which has emerged only in the last 30 years thanks to numerous rescue and research excavations - is less widespread. Various settlements, workplaces, cult sites and burial grounds used by these people - known from the Iron Age onwards as Camunni - have been found.
In the National Prehistory Museum, housed in the old Villa Agostani in Capo di Ponte’s historic centre, a display of archaeological finds and the heritage of rock-engraved figures are combined into an integral expression of Valle Camonica’s identity.
The Museum was created by the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo, Direzione Regionale per i Beni Culturali e Paesaggistici della Lombardia, Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Lombardia (Triennial Program Funds MiBAC 1997-1999, 2002, 2005-2006; Funds LOTTO 2010; Funds ARCUS 2010-2011) and with the support of the Distretto Culturale della Valle Camonica-Fondazione CARIPLO.
The MUPRE is a national museum, managed by the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Lombardia, peripheral organ of the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo, and the Director is Dr. Maria Giuseppina Ruggiero.
