Nuraghe Majori

About the museum

The Nuraghe Majori stands about two kilometres from Tempio Pausania, in the locality of Conca Marina, on a granite dome at 498 metres above sea level, in a strategic position for controlling the territory. Among the twenty-two nuragic sites of the municipality it is the best preserved and the only one open to visitors. Excavations by the Soprintendenza, directed by the archaeologist Angela Antona, have reconstructed the phases of the monument: the foundation dates from the Middle Bronze Age, around the 14th century BC, and abandonment took place in the Iron Age, between the 9th and 8th centuries BC.

The nuraghe has a sub-circular plan and is built with medium and large granite blocks, better worked near the entrance, which faces east-south-east. It is of mixed type, with features of both the corridor nuraghe and the tholos nuraghe: from the lintelled entrance a corridor cuts through the mass of the walls and gives access to ovoid chambers with false-dome roofs. The corridor leads to a semicircular courtyard from which a staircase rises to the upper floor, where the remains of another tholos chamber with a silo for provisions survive. The ceramic finds confirm a residential use; the village of huts around the nuraghe has not yet been excavated.

In one of the chambers lives a colony of lesser horseshoe bats (rinolofi minori), which arrive in mid-April, breed in June and migrate in October. Since July 2003 the management of the site has been entrusted to the company Balares, which also offers educational workshops.

Highlights

• Mixed-type nuraghe with corridor and tholos, at 498 metres elevation
• Colony of lesser horseshoe bats in the left chamber
• View of Monte Limbara from the upper floor
• 350-metre route among holm oaks and cork oaks
• Educational workshops on ceramics, jewellery, botany and simulated excavation

Operated by

Balares S.a.s.

Visitors per year

approx. 20,000

Admission & discounts

Simple visit €3.50 per person; guided visit €5 per person.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Hands-on stations

Educational workshops on jewellery, ceramics, botany, simulated archaeological excavation and bats.

Getting there & parking

The monument is reached on foot by a short 350-metre route among holm oaks and cork oaks.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

The Balares company sells souvenirs at the site.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit