An ancient thread, more than a thousand years old, links Turin to Puglia. With the exhibition Arms and power: the Lombard Archangel , the Royal Museums of Turin are the protagonists of the exchange of finds and testimonies from the Lombard period between the TECUM Museums - Sanctuary of San Michele Arcangelo in Monte Sant'Angelo (Foggia) and the Museum of Antiquities . The focus developed by the two museums is on the figure of the Archangel Michael, who appears in the Bible as a warrior angel, placed at the head of the celestial militias. With this exhibition, the Royal Museums join the project promoted by MiBAC and the Italy Langobardorum Association, entitled Longobardi in vetrina, which promotes the dissemination of knowledge of Lombard culture. The collaboration and synergy between the UNESCO sites, the museums of the network, and the national ones (expression of the territories of strong Lombard significance), such as Piedmont, which in the Museum of Antiquities preserves a Lombard collection among the largest in Italy, have allowed identify seven major themes declined in fifteen temporary exhibitions that will take place in 2019.

THE ARCANGEL MICHAEL AND THE EXHIBITION - On the basis of the Holy Scriptures, tradition has elaborated the unsheathed sword (or spear), which is associated with the shield, as an iconographic attribute of the Archangel Michael. These bellicose traits favored its adoption, as patron saint, by Byzantine, Longobard and Carolingian leaders and rulers. The invincible Archangel became a symbol of victory and military power. Among the Lombards, a people of warriors, the adoption of the Michaelic cult was favored by the fact that they recognized and transferred to Michael the attributes and characteristics of the pagan Wodan, worshiped as the supreme god of war. Archangel Michael thus became the patron saint of the Lombards and the Gargano sanctuary began to be considered as their 'national' sanctuary. According to legend, the foundation of the Gargano sanctuary of San Michele, in Monte Sant'Angelo (FG), reflects the strong link between the Michaelic cult and the Lombard dynasty of Benevento and evokes, albeit with nuanced features, the battle fought around the 650, between the Lombards of Benevento and the Byzantines.

In the exhibition Arms and power: the Longobard Archangel , the Museum of Antiquities presents the cast of the epigraphs of the apparatus engraved on the structures of the sanctuary on the Gargano, commissioned by the Lombards to remember the impressive restructuring of the sanctuary itself and to leave memory written about his presence and important pilgrimages. Among the main casts, a dedicatory epigraph presents the name of Romualdo I (662 - 687), financier of the monumental extension works of the sanctuary. A second epigraph, engraved on the same capital, reported the names of the viri honesti of the court of Benevento who collaborated financially. In a third epigraph there is an invocation to the angel Gabriel in the pilgrimage to the sanctuary carried out by the Lombard duke Romualdo II (706 - 731) and his first wife, Gumperga.

Many others, on the other hand, have inscriptions in the runic alphabet (the only ones in Italy) of pilgrims who wanted to leave the memory of their passage and devotion to the Archangel. Alongside these important testimonies, archaeological works are exhibited that present the widespread Lombard presence in Piedmont, many of which have been restored for the occasion and presented to the public for the first time.