The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy)
Slideshow | Lightbox (23) Tags: amalfi campania europe history italy museums Posted: Sept. 23, 2011 by Val
Amalfi (Italy) is a small town; today, it is an important tourist destination on coast on which it is located, named Costiera Amalfitana. However, the town of Amalfi was also the capital of the maritime republic known as the Duchy of Amalfi, an important trading power in the Mediterranean between 839 and around 1200. Thanks to the initiative and efforts of the municipality of Amalfi and the Center for History and Culture Coast, with the collaboration of Regione Campania as well as authorities of Salerno and Avellino, tourists and locals alike have now a place where they can learn more about the town's extraordinary medieval history.
The new museum, Il Museo della Bussola e del Ducato marinaro di Amalfi (The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy)) was opened to public in December 2010. It is housed by the ancient Amalfi's arsenal most of which has been restored to its previous glory (a good part of the original structure has been lost forever due to the coastal erosion).
The museum is small - it may take less than one hour to go through its exhibits. It has few original historic artifacts and has to rely on models, reproductions and educational displays to fulfill its mission. However, this does not make it less interesting, and I think the museum is a must for those who want to learn about the glorious history of Amalfi, the first maritime republic.
Below is a small photo gallery illustrating some artifacts and educational displays in the museum. Our gallery does not pretend to provide a comprehensive coverage. But we hope that it will awake your interest in the history of Amalfi and the town itself which for sure is capable of offering not only a good vacation time but also an opportunity for intellectual enjoyment and appreciation of its significance in our history.
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The area in Amalfi town where The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi is located. Although its official address is on Piazza Flavio Gioia, a large square near Amalfi's port, the museum is hidden among buildings on what is called Largo Cesario Console. |
Entrance to The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy). The museum is rather samll and is located in the old and well preserved (and restored) town's Arsenal. Entrance ticket is €2 with free entrance to several categories of visitors including kids and senior citizens. |
There is another entrance to The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy) from the narrow passage connecting Piazza dei Dogi with Piazza Duomo. But it seems to be permanently closed. |
That's how The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy) looks like when you you enter its premises. They consist of two parallel aisles - two rows of vaults separated and supported by ten piers constructed in stone and mortar representing a wonderful example of medieval architecture. |
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The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy) has few original historic artifacts and has to rely on models, reproductions and educational displays to fulfill its mission. This large scale model of barque "Rosa Madre" built by members of "Associazione Culturale Gaeta e il Mare" is one of them. |
This map at The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi illustrates trade posts and routes of Merchants of Amalfi in medieval Mediterranean region. |
Another interesting map at The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy) - this one shows the territory of the Republic of Amalfi in X - XIII centuries. |
Several Amalfi mint coins, Amalfi tari, with Kufesque (pseudo-Arabic) inscriptions related to the 11th and first half of 12th centuries are on display in The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy) |
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Chronology of Dukes of Amalfi (Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi); the list starts with Mastalus II (954 - 957), the first duke of Amalfi, and ends with Rogerius II (1127 - 1131), a.k.a Roger II, the King of Sicily, who effectively terminated the Duchy of Amalfi. |
A great deal of displays at The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi is dedicated to maritime topics. This one tells us about Qumran Sundial (also Qumran Roundel of the disk of Qumran) found in Palestine and believed to be the first solar compass. |
Some artifacts on display in The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy) like this 19th century navigational sextant come from the Amalfi training school for merchant seamen (Scuola Nautica di Amalfi). |
Another 19th century artifact from the Amalfi training school for merchant seamen (Scuola Nautica di Amalfi) at The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy) - compass. Traditionally, Flavio Gioja (c. 1302), an Italian mariner and inventor from Amalfi, is credited with perfecting the sailor's compass by suspending its needle over a compass card and enclosing the device in a glass covered box. |
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The original 17th century binding in folio and copperplate engraving with the oldest existing description of "Chronicle of the Translatio of St. Andrew the Apostle" on display at The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi. |
The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi - tufa (a variety of limestone) statue with stucco decorations of St. John the Evangelist, 16th century, from the Cistercian monastery of San Pietro alla Canonica (Convento dei Cappuccini, currently the Grand Hotel Convento). |
The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi - Medieval Amalfitan Galley, bronze, high-relief by Diomede Patroni, 1928 |
The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi - early 20th century compass from the royal ship "Amalfi" sunk by a torpedo in 1915 at 15 miles from Venice. |
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The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi - reproductions of various costumes used in procession during the first Regata Storica delle Repubbliche Marinare d'Italia (The Historical Regatta of the Maritime Italian Republics), 1955 |
The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy) - more reproductions of historic costumes used during The Historical Regattas of the Maritime Italian Republics. |
According the rules of the Historic Regatta, each galleon must be recognizable by the color of its hull and the figure attached to the bow representing the symbolic animal of each city. Amalfi's boat is blue and has a Pegasus (winged house) as its symbol. (The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi) |
The second of the two aisles of The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy) is occupied currently by a temporary exhibition "New Routes of painting" featuring a group of young painters from Campania. |
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"The daily needs of the artist to proclaim his identity" as well as recovering "the ability to describe, represent, mean, imagine man" is the focal idea of the exposition "New Routes of painting" at The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy). |
The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy), a painting from temporary exhibition "New Routes of painting". |
This 19th century model of a sailing vessel was originally created for educational purposes to explain the use of sails for maneuvering a ship. It is exposed in the area of The Museum of the Compass and Maritime Duchy of Amalfi (Amalfi, Italy) occupied by a temporary exhibition "New Routes of painting." |






















