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Bari is a city in southern Italy with 328.458 people. It is the capital of the Bari Provence and of the Apulia Region.Bari is the largest and most important city of Apulia and stands on the Adriatic coast. It's mainly famous for being one of the exit doors of Italy, where travellers leave on ferries for neighboring countries. The city authorities, however, have been trying to raise its tourism profile and awareness on Bari's old town, which has retained its ancient Mediaeval plan and contains many historic buildings and sites.
There a lot of places to see in Bari, especially in the ancient part of the city, called Bari Vecchia by locals. It's a beautiful mediaeval quarter in which there are a lot of important churches. The cathedral of Saint Nicolaus, for instance, has a gold ceiling and a crypt.
Other place to see in Bari are Cathedral of St. Sabinus, Petruzzelli Theatre, Castello Normanno Svevo, The Russian Church.
Museo della Cattedrale (Cathedral Museum): hosted in Palazzo Episcopale near to the Cathedral of S. Nicola. It preserves a marvellous “Exultet,” a roll of parchment dating back to the first thirty years of 1000, with ancient prayers and miniatures in the Byzantine style; it’s 530 cm in length. The collection also includes sculptures and paintings, as well as a rich Treasure of objects from Neapolitan liturgics workmanship, dating back to the 17th and 18th Centuries.
Museo Storico Civico (Historical Civic Museum):
re-opened in 2002 after almost 25 years of closure, is located at N°13 Strada Sagges in a construction formed from a three-floored tower of mediaeval origins. It conserves relics and documents with particular reference to the First World War period. The chronological documentation begins in the period of the Garibaldina ruling until the Second World War.
Museo Archeologico Provinciale (Provincial Archaeological Museum): is located inside the University complex. At the moment it’s in a phase of re-arrangement. It includes the most complete collection of archaeological material present in Puglia, with rich collections of antique vases, bronzes, inscriptions, jewellery and amber as well as sculpture.
Pinacoteca Provinciale (Provincial Art Gallery):
known as Corrado Giaquinto, is housed on the last floor of the Palazzo della Provincia, and presents an ample documentation of art from Puglia (or connected to it) from the 11th to the 19th Century. The last donation was in 1987 – a Grieco donation – which completed the collection with paintings from the 19th Century, in particular by the Macchiaoli artists from Tuscany, and a variety of art from the 20th Century (Carr°, Castrati, De Pisis, Morandi, Mafai).