Do not miss a visit to the National archaeological museums of Cagliari and Sassari to see the most important evidences in the world of the Nuragic and Punic-Phoenician civilizations.
The “Antiquarium Arborense” of Oristano and the Archaeological Museum of Nuoro are also very interesting. Perfugas museum hosts evidences of the early Paleolithic, while the museum of Laconi displays 40 menhir statues with proto-anthropomorphic and anthropo-morphic features dated back to 3400-2700 BC.
The “retables” displayed in the National gallery in Cagliari, in the “Antiquarium Arborense”, in the Sanna museum in Sassari and in the Gallery of Ploaghe are among the most important Sardinian paintings. Other beautiful “retables” that are in several Sardinian churches can be visited during a thematic itinerary.
Folklore can be appreciated in the ethnographic museum of Nuoro where different traditional costumes of several Sardinian towns are on display. Every village keeps its own traditional costume with pride. It may differ from the other ones by the cut and the colours. Some female dresses may even indicate whether the woman is married or not.
There are also beautiful carpets, wedding chests, typical music instruments, gold, silver and coral jewels, breads and cakes. The three rooms dedicated to the archaic Carnival of Barbagia are most interesting.
Also In S. Lussurgiu and Quartu are two museums that display objects related to the traditional Sardinian culture. “Galluras” is another very well organized museum arranged inside a house in Luras. It displays more than 4000 objects and represents the typical house of the Gallura region and its traditions.
Aggius, well known to have a weaving centre has recently fit out an interesting ethnographic museum. Tadasuni has a museum that gathers all the typical Sardinian music instruments while Sardinian minerals are on display in the National mineralogical museum in Iglesias.