The great season of renewal for the Florentine museum has begun, which will include various structural works, efficiency enhancement and new collocations of the collections, all without ever closing entirely to the general public.
During renovations, the National Archeological Museum in Florence will reopen the historic entrance on via della Colonna, 38.
Starting October 14 and up until the first months of 2026, the renovation works will take over the entrance wing and the long section of the topographical Etruscan section. The major part of the Palazzo della Crocetta, where you can find the Egyptian Museum, the Granducal and Classic art sections will remain open, and with time, the museum will organize events and temporary exhibitions to allow the public to share this period of great change and renewal.
The first of these initiative starts right away on October 24: a hall on the third floor will host the section called “A Sustainable Technology” of the larger exhibition “170.000 years ago at Poggetti Vecchi. The Neanderthal and Climate Challenges”, organized in collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria (Italian Institute of Prehistory and Protohistory) and the Museum System of the Università degli Studi di Firenze, with the approval of the Regional Office of Tuscany’s national museums.
On this occasion, for the first time ever worldwide, visitors will get a chance to see extraordinary wooden finds that belonged to a group of Neanderthals that have miraculously survived for over 170,000 years in stable environmental conditions in the absence of oxygen. Given their frailty, this will be the first time they are exposed to the public. The exceptional finds document the first use of fire as an instrument to work wood: a primordial technology that captured humanity’s imagination, passed on to myth and as symbols of populations closer in time to the present. You will travel through the centuries as you follow the exhibition route.
Taking advantage of the temporary dismantling of the collections, the Museum opens up the local area, taking the chance to expose part of the museum’s objects in places where they were first found. This will be the case for the Chimera, who is about to leave to Arezzo to partcipate in the celebrations taking place this year in commemoration of Giorgio Vasari. Upon its return to the museum, the famous station will be placed in a completely renovated hall, to give the symbol of the National Archeological Museum of Florence its rightful place of honor.
Make note that the museum is open Mondays through Saturdays and on the first Sunday of the month (with free entrance) and on national holidays from 8.30am to 2pm (last entrance permitted at 1.15pm) while on Thursdays it is closed in the mornings, opening from 1.30 to 7pm (last entrance at 6.15pm). If you first visit the Uffizi Gallery, keep your ticket stub and show it here at the ticket office: you will be able to visit the museum for free. You can find additional information on the collections on our article on the National Archeological Museum of Florence.
