For the first time in Italy, the Capitoline Museums are hosting the major exhibition Ancient Civilizations of Turkmenistan, staged in the halls of Palazzo dei Conservatori from October 25, 2025 to April 12, 2026.
The exhibition, curated by Claudio Parisi Presicce, Barbara Cerasetti, Carlo Lippolis, and Mukhametdurdy Mamedov, brings together a collection of archaeological artifacts from protohistoric Margiana (3rd-2nd millennium B.C.), located in southeastern Turkmenistan, andancient Parthia, in particular from the archaeological site of Nisa (2nd century B.C.- 1st century A.D.), in south-central Turkmenistan.
Visitors will be able to see exceptionally valuable masterpieces for the first time outside the country’s borders, such as gold and gemstone necklaces found at Gonur-tepe (3rd-2nd millennium B.C.E.), unbaked clay heads depicting kings and warriors, and finely decorated ivory rythas from the Hellenistic period (2nd century B.C.- 1st century A.D.).
Margiana, the heart of the Greater Khorasan Civilization, was between the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE one of the most flourishing centers of Central Asia, an expression of a refined material culture and a civilization that shared a deep political, economic and artistic entanglement with the surrounding regions.
The exhibition also recounts the parable of the Parthian Kingdom - later to become a vast Arsacid Empire - through artifacts from Nisa-Mithradatkert, a grandiose celebratory complex of Arsacid rulers, founded to exalt the national glories of an empire that stretched from the Euphrates to the Bactrian. A power destined to last for centuries, capable of maintaining a political and military balance with the neighboring Roman Empire.
A crossroads of ancient civilizations, Turkmenistan represents one of the richest and most fascinating areas of Central Asia, a natural bridge between Mesopotamia, the Iranian Plateau and the Indus Valley. Since the 3rd millennium BC, its trade routes favored not only the exchange of valuable goods, but also the circulation of ideas, techniques and knowledge that contributed to the development of Eastern and Western civilizations.
The exhibition is promoted by Roma Capitale, Assessorato alla Cultura and Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Ministry of Culture of Turkmenistan. It is organized by Zètema Progetto Cultura and carried out with the collaboration of ISMEO - International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies, CRAST - Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l’Asia, and University of Turin.
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| For the first time in Italy, in Rome, an exhibition of archaeological finds from Turkmenistan |
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