Evocative and educational at the same time, the Early Christian Museum is an archaeological area incorporated into a museum structure. It is able to show and explain the treasures it preserves, thanks also to its arrangement on two levels, allowing for a close-up view of the details and an overall view from above.
Located on the remains of an ancient early Christian basilica, it preserves the mosaic flooring in situ, but also exhibits the elegant museum remainsof a second basilica that is no longer visible. The Early Christian Museum’s mosaics highlight ancient Aquileia’s ties with the rest of the Mediterranean and, in particular, with North Africa and the East. The rich collection of funerary stelae also contributes to describing the diverse Aquileia society of the time (4th-5th century AD). Finally, the perimeter walls and the remains within tell the long and well-structured history of this building: an ancient early Christian basilica, then a female Benedictine monastery, private residence, cellar and agricultural warehouse, and, in the end, museum.
