The original nucleus of the Archaeological Museum of Aquileia is the eighteenth-century Bertoli collection. The opening of the present venue at villa Cassis by the Austrian government dates back to 1882, whereas the final arrangement occurred after the Second World War.
The finds on display, which date back to the Roman age and all come from local excavations, are really remarkable. Among the most valuable pieces of the collection we would like to point out a Medici Venus, an old man's head of the 1st century B.C. and a rich collection of glassware, amber items, engraved stones and the numismatic collection.
The adjoining garden features the lapidarium, with architectural material, epigraphs, steles, mosaics, funerary areas; a specific section is dedicated to the remains of a Roman boat, found in the Lacus Timavi in Monfalcone.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.