MUTSEU, Cagliari, Sardinia
Sometimes, museums over-complicate things in the way they name themselves. Take this MUTSEU, for example. The grand acronym implies a complex of sites which are drawn together under a simple title. But no. MUTSEU consists only of two elements in the same building – the archaeological site beneath the Church of St Eulalia, and the church’s Treasury. However, I’ve also included the church under the heading, since they are all related and it makes more sense to me.
The entrance to the Archaeological Area and the Treasury Museum of Saint Eulalia, Cagliari, Sardinia
The first element of the complex is the church that started it all. St Eulalia is a simple, sweet little church which is worth visiting if you are in the area. The second element is the archaeological site that is underneath the present church – its origins go back to the Phoenicians, and it makes for a fascinating place to wander. The third element is the treasury, situated in the same building as the archaeological site, but upstairs rather than down. To find out more about each, please click the links in this text.
The MUTSEU group also owns the area that is optimistically called the “Archaeological Site of St Lucia”. At present, it is a fenced-off zone in the midst of the warren of streets near the sea, containing the remnants of the bombed church of St Lucia. The origins of the church are from 1119 at the latest, making it the oldest church inside Cagliari’s city walls, though the remains visible today are basically 16th/17th century. The church was largely destroyed during the Second World War, but some of its artefacts are preserved in the St Eulalia Treasury. Interestingly, archaeological digs have started in the area and they hope to dig right down, perhaps to the remains of the Roman town beneath. If you want to see more about what they’ve found so far (which isn’t much, but no doubt this will change!) they have a website in English: www.santaluciacagliari.com
Archaeological Site of St Lucia, Cagliari, Sardinia
The MUTSEU group is also involved with the Church of St Sepolcro, a 15th century building which, during renovations in 1992, unearthed a crypt packed with bodies. I didn’t get to visit – well, I wasn’t sure what I’d find there or whether I wanted to find it, honestly.
Further Information
There is a website run by MUTSEU in English – it’s not massively informative, but it’s here: www.mutseu.org
How To Get There
The complex is easy to walk to from the train station of Cagliari, but buses do stop fairly close by. The transport website for Cagliari is not very user-friendly for the non-Italian speaker. So, here’s the city’s official transport website: www.ctmcagliari.it – with some English information on Cagliari buses generally. Here is a pdf of the bus map. Now you’ve worked out what route you want to take, pop over here for a list of the bus numbers, so you can see the schedule of your bus.
No Comments