The Menhir Museum, or Civic Archaeological Museum of the Menhir Statues, located in the Aymerich Palace in the village of Laconi, is a unique museum of its kind for its rich collection of steles found in the Laconi area, with the first discovery in 1969.
History of the Aymerich Palace.
The Aymerichs, who arrived in Sardinia in 1323 following the prince Alfonso of Aragon to occupy the island, played a leading role in local history, both in modern and contemporary times, often determining the ups and downs that animated this territory for 500 years. .
Inaugurated in 1846 as a rural residence of the Marquises of Laconi, the Palace is a splendid example of neoclassical style, the result of the nineteenth-century project of Gaetano Cima, architect from Cagliari who was responsible for the construction of the main part, the facade of the building and the Palatine chapel. The main body of the building, spread over 3 floors, is characterized by the main facade, in typical neoclassical style, punctuated by windows and elegant balconies.
Inside, on the "noble floor" intended from its origins as a representative area, precious wallpapers from that age, created by the prestigious French printing house Maison Dufour, are still visible.
The total area of the building is over 5,000 square meters, functional to the carrying out of all the conservation and processing activities of foodstuffs from the many agricultural possessions and farms in the area.
History of the museum.
In 1969, Professor Enrico Atzeni discovered the first Sardinian Menhir Statue (Genna Arrele I). From that moment there was a long succession of exceptional finds.
The museum institution, inaugurated in November 1996 inside the nineteenth-century Municipal Palace, gave space to the exhibition of 40 Menhir statues from the Laconi countryside.
After the purchase of the Aymerich Palace by the Municipality of Laconi and its subsequent restoration, in 2010 the new museum was inaugurated, with a new exposition including statues from the territories of Villa Sant'Antonio, Allai and Samugheo in addition to the Menhir Statues from Laconi.
Museum exhibition.
The exhibition is divided into three levels and eleven rooms inside the Aymerich Palace. On the ground floor, beyond the ticket office and the bookshop, we find a first exhibition of Menhirs Statues, the reproduction of a quarry for the creation of the Statues and the recently restored Noble Chapel of the Aymerich family. The visit continues through the external courtyards of the residence and then in the rooms on the second floor, where we find the remaining Menhir statues of the territory and a collection of important artifacts, part of the funerary equipment of some Neolithic and early metal age burials related to the same context of discovery of the Menhir Statues.
On the first floor, called the noble floor, we can admire the nineteenth-century wallpapers of the Joseph Dufour manufacture. The remaining rooms on this level are currently home to interesting temporary exhibitions.