The Polese collection

The Polese collection was acquired by the Provincial Administration in 1925 on a proposal from the Committee for Archaeology and local history, with the aim of enriching the collections of the Archaeological Museum of the Province of Bari established in 1875. The collection, which consists of about 2000 objects, belonged to a private collector named Arturo Polese, an officer in the railway FSE company.

While construction works on the line Bari-Taranto were being carried out, Arturo Polese as a director of works collected numerous objects that had been brought to light during the excavations, especially in the province of Bari. However, it is likely that the collector came into possession of some finds also from other places of Puglia and maybe from neighboring regions.

Because the artifacts were surface- collected, their historical and archaeological content and context were not clear. Thus, the artifacts were mostly displayed and arranged in the large exhibition room, on the first floor, of Palazzo Ateneo, the Archaeological Museum’s former location, according to the types of production: from imported Corinthian and Attic wares to figured vessels made in Magna Graecia, from indigenous pottery with geometric decoration to blackglazed and overpainted pottery, from bronze artifacts to terracotta figurines, from glass artifacts to decorative objects.

The current exhibition, therefore, reproposes, through an exemplifying selection of different types of artifacts, the antique conception that has characterized the collection since its original establishment.