The National Archaeological Museum of Umbria occupies a former Dominican church and convent at the south end of the historic centre, near the church of San Domenico. The collection is strongest on the Etruscan period — Perugia was an important Etruscan city before the Romans — with an extensive array of bronzes, ceramics, and inscribed stone tablets. The Cippo Perugino, a stone boundary marker carved with one of the longest surviving Etruscan texts, is the star exhibit: about 46 lines of Etruscan inscribed on a block of travertine, still largely undeciphered after 150 years of scholarly effort.
The museum also holds Roman-era material and a prehistoric section. It is quieter than the Galleria Nazionale and rarely crowded, making it a good option if the major galleries are full. San Domenico itself, beside the museum entrance, has an impressive Gothic interior worth glancing into.