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Naples National Archaeological Museum

Naples's museum of Pompeii and Herculaneum finds, the Farnese Marbles, and the Alexander Mosaic.

  • Naples
  • Museum
Plan your visitSee tours
Where
Naples
Best for
Farnese Marbles
Allow
2 hr 30 min
Tickets
From €20
Checked September 2026

The Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli holds the finds that make sense of Pompeii and Herculaneum: wall paintings, bronzes, and the Alexander Mosaic, lifted whole from the House of the Faun in the 1840s. Its ground floor is anchored by the Farnese Marbles, Renaissance-era finds from Rome's Baths of Caracalla, including the colossal Farnese Bull, carved from a single block and the largest sculpture to survive from antiquity. The building has a long institutional life: raised as a cavalry barracks in the 1580s, it served as the University of Naples's seat for over a century before King Ferdinand IV opened it as the Real Museo Borbonico in 1816. Upstairs, the discreetly named Secret Cabinet holds the erotic art the Bourbons once locked away.

A Bourbon-era museum whose two core collections connect Renaissance collecting with the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii.

Sources and citations (2)
  1. Museo Archeologico Nazionale di NapoliMuseum’s historyMuseum history openingRead source
  2. UNESCO World Heritage CentreHistoric Centre of NaplesProperty header and criteriaRead source

Five works worth finding

If you see nothing else, see these.

  1. The Farnese BullRoman copy of a Hellenistic group, from the Baths of Caracalla

    The largest sculpted group to survive from antiquity; walk all the way around it, because the tangle of bodies reads differently from every side.Ground floor, Farnese collection

  2. The Alexander MosaicRoman mosaic from the House of the Faun, Pompeii

    Alexander charges in from the left while Darius, in his chariot, turns to flee; look at the horses and the stricken faces rather than the famous whole.First floor, mosaic galleries

  3. The Secret CabinetPompeii and Herculaneum finds

    Frescoes, bronzes and amulets the Bourbons locked away; what strikes you is how matter-of-fact the Romans were about it all.First floor

  4. FloraRoman fresco from Villa Arianna, Stabiae

    A woman in a pale gown gathering flowers, seen from behind; one of the most admired paintings to survive from the Roman world.Second floor, fresco galleries

  5. The bronzes from the Villa of the PapyriRoman and Hellenistic bronzes, Herculaneum

    Hermes at Rest, the Sleeping Satyr and the pair of runners are among the finest ancient bronzes anywhere, pulled from a villa buried by Vesuvius.Second floor

Plan your visit

Everything you need before you go.

Tickets
From €20
Booking
No booking needed
Time needed
2 hr 30 min
Best time
At opening, or in the late afternoon to avoid tour groups
Getting there
In central Naples, a short walk from Piazza Dante or Piazza Cavour; the Museo metro stop (Line 1) is right outside the entrance.

€2 for EU/EEA citizens aged 18-25; free for under-18s, visitors with disabilities, and everyone on the first Sunday of the month. Tickets are non-refundable. Last updated September 2026. Prices change, so check the official site before you go.

Buy your ticket online and head straight to the mezzanine mosaics before the tour buses arrive; the Alexander Mosaic room fills up first.

See toursOfficial website
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Tours worth booking

A few we would book ourselves, to get more from your visit.

Booking through these links may earn Italia Magnifica a commission, at no cost to you.

  1. Private Tour of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples

    • Viator
    • 2h
    • 5.0★ · 21 reviews
    from €290Book this tour

  2. Tour in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples with an archaeologist

    • Viator
    • 2h
    • 5.0★ · 14 reviews
    from €250Book this tour

  3. Tour of the Archaeological Museum of Naples

    • Viator
    • 2h
    • 5.0★ · 13 reviews
    from €186Book this tour

  4. Archaeological Museum Private Tour with Skiptheline Tickets

    • Viator
    • 2h
    • 5.0★ · 11 reviews
    from €170Book this tour

  5. THE WONDERS OF ANTIQUES: The Archaeological Museum of Naples

    • Viator
    • 1h 45m
    • 5.0★ · 9 reviews
    from €161Book this tour

  6. Naples Folklore: A Unique Concert of Traditional Neapolitan Music

    • Viator
    • 1h 15m
    • 5.0★ · 8 reviews
    from €30Book this tour

Good to know

How long should you spend at the Naples Archaeological Museum?

Plan on about two and a half hours. With 90 minutes, do the Farnese sculptures downstairs, the Alexander Mosaic and Secret Cabinet on the first floor, then the frescoes upstairs.

Should you visit the museum before or after Pompeii?

Either works, but do not skip it. Most of Pompeii’s and Herculaneum’s movable art, the mosaics, frescoes and bronzes, lives here rather than on site, so the museum gives the ruins their color.

Do you need to book the Naples Archaeological Museum?

Not strictly; tickets are sold at the door. In high season, buying a ticket online ahead saves time in the queue, which is worth it if you only have a morning.

More to see nearby

Same city first, then the nearest across the region.

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