Leading off the place des Martyrs, the museum houses some of the finest sculpture in the country, much of it from the reign of Juba II. Among many highlights are marble busts of the royal family, who wear the royal band across their foreheads, and an exceptionally rare portrait of Juba’s late mother-in-law, the famous Cleopatra of Egypt. A colossal statue of a Roman emperor, probably Augustus, is wonderfully carved, especially the breast-plate with figures including a deified Julius Caesar. The finest of the sculptures, though, is a statue of a naked Apollo in finest white marble (a copy of a 5th century BC Greek original), believed to be by the master Phidias. The collection of mosaics is equally stunning and includes a scene of Odyssesus and his followers passing the sirens, and a vivid portrayal of agricultural scenes. Cherchell has provided such a rich source of antiquities that, in spite of the export of many pieces before and during the colonial period (now in museums across Europe), there is too much to contain in the original 1908 building. A second, larger museum (same ticket, same opening hours) was opened in 1979 at the mosaic park (left-hand side of the road as you enter from Tipaza) to display mosaics, sculpture and glass from antiquity and the early Islamic period. Marked ‘Nouveau Musée’, it stands next to military barracks, flanked by Roman columns.
