Within a former convent, next door to the 17th-century Church of Santa Chiara, this Baroque building has been turned into an archaeological museum.
Housed in the former Baroque monastery of Santa Chiara, this museum benefits from the archaeological collection donated in 1910 by the doctor and archaeologist Domenico Ridola (1841-1932). The collection has been gradually expanded by archaeological finds in the area, ranging from the Palaeolithic to the Magna Grecia period. The exhibition is divided into pieces from the mountains, fortified villages and Apulian-Lucanian finds along the Bradano river.
Finally, in the Ridola room, there is an exhibition of manuscripts, documents and relics about Domenico Ridola, the founder of the museum. After his death in 1932, pal ethnological research in the Matera area was continued by others including Eleonora Bracco who became director of the museum after Domenico Ridola until 1961 and was responsible for the re-organisation of the museum.