On arriving back at the Naples train station, we reversed our course from earlier in the day and boarded the Metro headed back toward Piazza Dante and our hotel. But finding ourselves somewhat recharged from lunch and the relative inactivity of the train ride, we decided to visit the National Archaeological Museum (Museo Archeologico Nazionale), found next to the Museo Metro stop. Again we showed our ArteCards, thereby using up the last of the free admissions to which we were entitled, and we started wandering around.

The National Archaeological Museum has an extensive collection of artifacts found throughout Italy, though there is probably a particular focus on pieces found in Pompeii and Herculaneum (mostly mosaics and frescoes). The museum provides the dual services of making the artifacts more easily accessible and of protecting the ones found outdoors from the elements and from feral creatures (mainly the human ones). In many cases, reproductions are displayed in the places the artifacts came from. The following is a sampling of the things we found on display:

First, some sculptures –





Mosaics, mostly from Pompeii –





Frescoes, mainly found inside houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum –



And a few of the many other objects –


There was also a large scale model of Pompeii that was created in the 19th Century. The city hasn't changed much since then, though some additional structures have been unearthed.


Around the middle of the building there was an immense room, called the Meridian Room. Its construction was started early in the 17th Century, but it was repaired and renovated and updated until well into the 20th Century. It was once used as a library, but the books have been moved. It is used for a variety of purposes now.


To exit the museum, we needed to pass through a courtyard with some more sculpture. In one of the side rooms, a woman was singing (rather well) in front of an audience seated in stackable chairs.

On another side of the courtyard we found a collection of elaborate sarcophagi.

The museum was actually within walking distance of our hotel, being one Metro stop before Piazza Dante, so we walked back to the hotel and didn't move much more for many hours. We had ambitious plans for the next day. These would start with a visit to the remains of the ancient city of Herculaneum.