National Archeological Museum, Naples Museo Archeologico Nazionale

The ground floor of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples is devoted mainly to the collection of sculpture in marble. Items of particular importance are the figures of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, a marble copy of a bronze group by Critius and Nesiotes (477 B.C.) which stood in the Agora in Athens; the so-called Hera Farnese, the head of a statue of Artemis in the earlier severe style; Orpheus and Eurydice with Hermes, a copy of a famous relief from the time of Phidias; and Pallas Athene, a copy of an original from the time of Phidias.In the Galleria del Toro Farnese are the Farnese Hercules, a colossal statue 3.17m/3.5ft high (after a fourth century original) found in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, and the Farnese Bull, the largest marble group which has come down to us from antiquity, a copy of a Rhodian work by Apollonius and Tauriscus (third-second century B.C.)

On the mezzanine floor of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples is the collection of ancient mosaics, mainly from Pompeii. Among the most notable items is the famous Alexander's Battle, a mosaic 6.20m/6.75yd long (copied from an important painting of the fourth century B.C.) which was found in Pompeii in 1831. It shows Alexander, with his horsemen, charging the Persian king Darius at the battle of Issus (333 B.C.) and transfixing a Persian general who has been thrown from his horse, while Darius in his chariot prepares for flight.

On the first floor of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples, in the central Salone dell'Atlante, is the Farnese Atlas. Here, too, is the collection of bronze sculpture, mostly from Herculaneum (recognizable by the dark patina) but also from Pompeii (with green oxidation). Particularly notable are "Apollo playing a lyre" (a 5th century original from the Peloponnese, found in the Casa del Citarista in Pompeii), a "Dancing Faun" from the Casa del Fauno in Pompeii and the so-called "Narcissus", actually the youthful Dionysus, a masterpiece of the school of Praxiteles.

On the first floor of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples are the collection of ancient wall paintings, mainly from Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae, and the small bronzes (household utensils, etc.), together with terracottas and a large model of Pompeii (1879) on the scale of 1:1100.