The museum takes place in the Fort of Matra (14th century) situated in the old part of Aleria at about two kilometers from the modern village.
This importance derives from the archaeological site of Aleria, that was not only one of the ancient capitals of Corsica, but that has also been during its history, colony of the Greeks from Phocaea, then of the Carthaginians, then of the Romans and that it has finally been invaded and destroyed by the Vandals in the 5th century.
Among the remarkable artifacts in the museum that can be mentioned, there are a dish representing one of the elephants of Hannibal in march, two Greek cups for the libations (rhyton) having an extraordinary and rare zoomorphic shape reproducing a head of dog and that of a mule or a horse.
Finally, there are Greek, Roman, and Etruscan ceramics and vases, arms of bronze, amphoras, coins and many objects of daily life.
It was headquarter of a squadron of cavalry, whose mission was to guard the territories of the district, the oriental coast and the zone of the coastal ponds.