ongoing

Found treasures: stories of crimes and stolen artifacts

From 11 April to 30 September 2025

MANN - National Archaeological Museum of Naples

Piazza Museo n.18/19, Naples

Open now from 09:00 to 19:30

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The exhibition represents the final outcome of a complex path of investigations and research activities, carried out within the framework of the memorandum of understanding signed between the MANN and the Public Prosecutor's Office of Naples.
This initiative, by gathering the results of the investigations, aims to convey a message of great relevance, so that it is understood that theft and illicit trafficking of artworks not only represent a crime against cultural heritage, but deeply affect our history and national identity.
The intention is not only to raise awareness of the invaluable value of our cultural heritage, but also to stimulate an active commitment to its protection.

The exhibition path reveals the dynamics of the illegal art market and the irreversible damages caused by looting and destruction of cultural heritage.

The exhibition is divided into five thematic sections. The journey begins with an analysis of collecting, an ancient practice that has often fueled clandestine excavations and illicit trafficking over time, leading to the dispersal of countless archaeological contexts.

The next section explores the international dimensions of the phenomenon, highlighting the preferred routes of illicit trafficking, the mechanisms of clandestine exportation, and the strategies adopted, both nationally and globally, to counter its spread. The path continues with the deepening of judicial and investigative cases that have had great media resonance due to their seriousness. One of the most insidious aspects of the art black market is the phenomenon of forgeries, which is the subject of the penultimate section of the exhibition. Finally, the path concludes with a reflection on the irreparable loss of stolen and unrecovered works: masterpieces whose fate remains shrouded in mystery, as evidence that the fight against the dispersal of cultural heritage must not stop.

The exhibition represents an important opportunity to present to the public, for the first time, a selection of about 600 objects among the most representative of those seized. It is an extraordinarily heterogeneous collection of artifacts, not limited to Campania alone, but encompassing a wider area, extending to the entire South and beyond. Their variety provides a significant overview of artisanal productions and artistic expressions that have succeeded from the Archaic period to the Middle Ages.

Among the recovered materials stand out various classes of ceramics, from the oldest, such as impasto, Italo-Geometric, Enotrian, and Daunian ceramics, to Corinthian and Etrusco-Corinthian ceramics, bucchero, and Attic ceramics with black and red figures. These are accompanied by splendid examples of figurative ceramics from Campania, Lucania, and Apulia, along with everyday use artifacts, such as black and acrome painted ceramics. In addition to ceramics, the exhibition showcases a wide selection of bronze objects, including armor, weapons, personal ornaments, and pottery, as well as a significant number of figurative terracottas dating from the 6th to the 2nd century BC. Moreover, there are Roman marble elements, once part of private residences' furnishings, numerous underwater finds, and a vast collection of Greek, Roman, and medieval coins. The exceptional state of preservation of many of these artifacts suggests that they mainly belonged to ancient burials, unfortunately intercepted and looted by looters to feed the clandestine market of archaeological goods. Many of these artifacts have undergone irreversible processes of dispersal and loss of their history, but today, thanks to a long and meticulous work of recovery, cataloging, and study, they are once again part of our collective heritage.

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	opens - closes	last entry
monday	09:00 - 19:30
tuesday	Closed now
wednesday	09:00 - 19:30
thursday	09:00 - 19:30
friday	09:00 - 19:30
saturday	09:00 - 19:30
sunday	09:00 - 19:30

Found treasures: stories of crimes and stolen artifacts

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