The collection of the Gipsoteca di Arte Antica, one of the first in Italy, was started in 1887 on the initiative of Gherardo Ghirardini, who was inspired by the model of Germanic archaeology. Today, the collection offers a synthesis of the best-known and most significant works of Greek, Etruscan and Roman art, alongside lesser-known or previously unpublished specimens, and small plastic artefacts: faithful reproductions of ancient works conserved in various national and foreign museums, some of which have been lost, and sometimes particular versions that are the result of historical restorations or reconstructions specially made in Pisa on the basis of new interpretative proposals. The Gipsoteca also houses the Antiquarium's collection of classical archaeology and the Palethnological Collections.