The building was erected in the late 1940s in order to provide a suitable home for the “Geological Mining Service” of the Montevecchio-Italian Lead and Zinc Company, a service that was responsible for studying the deposit included in the company’s concessions.
In addition to housing the mine’s mineropetrographic laboratory, the building was desired by the company for the display for educational-museum purposes of the many ore samples from the deposit in the area and from other mining sites and also for the preparation of geological maps and mine plans.
Over time, a number of samples from various Italian localities visited on excursions and conferences by various mine technicians were added.
Passed into the ownership of the municipality of Arbus, the building was renovated in 2004 by the municipality to make it usable for visitors.
The same building houses the Alberto and Giovanni Antonio Castoldi Museum, donated by Giulia Lenzi Castoldi to the municipality of Arbus.
It is a collection of objects collected and preserved by several generations of the Castoldi family, consisting of personal use accessories, archaeological finds, Sardinian jewelry and antiques.
The exhibition is divided into four sections: male and female objects of use, archaeological finds, and traditional Sardinian jewelry.
The value of this interesting Collection is to document the customs and interests of an upper middle class “entrepreneurial dynasty” that played a major role in Italian economic life in general, and particularly in Sardinian economic life, between the second half of the 19th century and the 1930s.
