Museum Center "Antonio Cordici

The Museum Center is characterized by the heterogeneity of its important collections.  

Named after “Antonio Cordici”, it was established in 1876 and some archaeological finds belonging to various private collections were brought there. Since 2015 it has been permanently transferred to the new suitable and functional spaces of the former Convent of the Franciscan Friars Minor, for a modern enhancement of the archaeological, historical and artistic heritage of the City.   

The Museum Center is divided into the following sections: archaeological, historical-artistic, weapons and contemporary art, with exhibition spaces dedicated to temporary exhibitions. 

In the archaeological section there are finds from excavation campaigns of distinguished archaeologists, who tell the story of Erice in antiquity, both related to the cult of the goddess Astarte / Venus is the funerary world, with the findings of the equipment of the necropolis dated between the fourth and third centuries BC together with findings of the Norman-Swabian phase. 

There is also a rich section of paintings and sculptures of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries from religious complexes, such as the exceptional Annunciation by Antonello Gagini (1525), which was in the Church of the Carmine, commissioned by a nobleman from Erice.