The history of the museum’s collections begins in 1915 with the launch of a series of archaeological excavations under the French Protectorate, on the initiative of the famous General Lyautey. The most famous and richest of these excavations were those of the Roman site of Volubilis, under the direction of Louis Chatelain. The many discoveries of exceptional objects necessitated the establishment of an antiquities department, which was officially created in 1918. In 2014, the National Museum of Archeology of Rabat, like 13 other Moroccan museums, was entrusted to the National Foundation of Museums. The Museum presents a permanent exhibition dedicated exclusively to archaeological collections, according to a chronological order, beginning with prehistory, then the Punic period, the Roman era and ending with the Islamic era.
