THE PALAZZO MASSIMO ALLE TERME
The Palazzo Massimo alle Terme holds collections of Ancient Roman works
of art, coins and jewellery belonging the Museo Nazionale Romano which were
previously displayed in the Museum's Terme di Diocleziano complex.
The trasformation of Palazzo Massimo into a museum began in 1981, thanks
to a grant made by the Italian Government for the preservation of Ancient
Roman artifacts and works of art.
The
late 19th-centur palace, built by Camillo Pistrucci for Prince Massimiliano
Massimo on the site of the Renaissance Palazzo Peretti-Montalto, served
previously a college run by the Jesuits. The growth of the collections and
pressing need for a more comprehensive way to narrate the history of excavations
in Rome using the ancient artificats themselves led to the decision to distribute
the collections of the Museo Nazionale Romano among various sites including
Palazzo Massimo, Palazzo Altemps, The Cripta di Balbo, and a building alongside
the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. Organization and description
of the exhibit The exhibition is distribuited over three floors of
the Palazzo Massimo. In the basement are located the Numismatic and Jewellery
collection, while the first and second floors contain the museum's many fine
ancient works of art.
The Numismatic collection consist of collections previously kept in private
hands (those of the Museo Kircheriano, Francesco Gnecchi and King Victor
Emanuel III of Italy) and coins from the most important discoveries of coin
hoards (in a literal sense "buried treasure") discovered in Rome and the
surrounding Latium region. The exhibit illustrates the story of money, from
its origins to its function in modern times, describing the complicated social,
political and economic aspects of coinage.
Adjoining the large hall dedicated to the coin collections are display
cases containing pieces of jewellery discovered in ancient burial grounds
in Rome and its suburbs, which illustrate the history and evolution of fashion
and costume in the Roman Empire.
The collection of ancient works of art, covering the first and second
floors of the palace, include many celebrated examples of Roman art dating
from the late Republican period to the end of the Roman Empire, as well as
several original Greek works discovered during excavations in the Gardens
of Sallust.
On the ground floor, a rich display of portraites, enhanced by mosaics,
inscriptions and sculptures, document two eras which revolutionized Roman
society the first occurring after the conquest of Greece and the second during
the transformation of the Roman State from Republic to a great Mediterranean
empire. On the first floor, several well-known quotations taken from ancient
texts describe Roman taste for certain styles and schools of art. This helps
the viewer understand above all the design and decoration of great Roman
imperial building complexes such ad Hadrian's Villa and the Golden House
of
Nero.
The Roman's love for luxury goods designed to evoke the legendary splendor
of the Hellenistic courts is demonstrated by the collection of bronze ornaments
from the Emperor Caligula's great pleasure barges kept in ancient times on
Lake Nemi close to Rome and excavated from that lake's depths in the early
20th century.
Other unique objects, including the Portonaccio Sarcophagus, the Sarcophagus
of the Muses and an extensive series of family portraits from various imperial
dynasties, reveal the marked changes in the content and style of Roman artistic
production during the period of Late Antiquity, mirroring the troubled state
of the empire during its slow demise.
The palace's second floor is reserved for the exhibit of important Roman
sculptures, mosaics and pictures from ancient villas in Rome and its environs.
Deserving of special mention in this collection are the frescoes and
stucco-designs from a Roman villa found on the grounds of the villa Farnesina
on the via Lungara. These are very complete examples of the refined and
classicaltaste of the Augustan Age (early first century AD). Another outstanding
work in the collection is the barrel-valuted chamber containing the frescoes
from an underground room of Livia's villa at Prima Porta, which are among
the best conserved illustrations of an ancient Roman garden.
For information
IL SOGNO
Viale Regina Margherita, 192 - 00198 ROMA - Tel. 06/85.30.17.58 - Fax 06/85.30.17.56
Email :
ilsogno@romeguide.it