Roman Lapidarium

Janus Pannonius Museum SZ12
12 Széchenyi Square, Pécs

The lapidarium, or stone collection, is a term used in modern museology to designate collections that gather and display—in the form of an exhibition—artistically crafted, carved stone objects from a particular era or region, inscribed with texts and reliefs, shaped into sculptures, or used for religious and funerary purposes, making them an accessible source of experience for everyone.

The Roman stone collection of the Janus Pannonius Museum was established in 1962 in the courtyard of the museum building on Széchenyi Square. After a few years of closure and the renovation of its protective structure, it has been open to visitors again since December 2023. The collection was assembled from carved decorative and inscribed Roman-era stones from the united city and county museum, as well as ancient pieces preserved in the stone collection of the Pécs Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul.

Inscribed and carved stones are primary historical sources that supplement our knowledge of antiquity in areas where accounts by ancient historians have not survived, or have done so only to a limited extent. The lapidarium on Széchenyi Square, which attracts international interest, offers representative insight into the lives, mindset, material culture, and beliefs of our ancestors who lived in the 2nd–4th centuries AD, primarily through some fifty stone monuments discovered in Pécs and other locations in Baranya County.