Museum of Roman Civilization ( Museo della Civilta' Romana
)
The Museum has both documentary and educational
value, in that the material on display is
essentially made up of reproductions of examples of
classical archaeology which have either been lost or
destroyed or of works, which have been pieced back
together.
There
are mainly moulds of statues, busts,
inscriptions, reliefs and of life
size parts of buildings, of plastic models of
monuments and architectonic complexes
of Rome and of the provinces of the
Roman Empire, as well as evidence of the
so-called "material culture" such as
furnishings, objects of domestic use and work tools.
The Museum is divided into 59 sections that
cover a surface area of 13,000 square meters, for a
wall development of 3 kilometers and a height of
about 10 meters such dimensions obviously make it
possible to reconstruct, completely or partly,
buildings and monuments of the ancient
Roman world.
The
first fourteen rooms house an historical summary of
the origins of Rome until VI century AD,
which includes a map that illustrates the
progressive expansion of the Roman Empire,
the portraits of emperors and illustrious men
including Caesar, Augustus, Claudius, Nero,
Brutus, Pompey, Cicero, and plastic models of
numerous Augustan, Trajan, Severan and Aurelian
monuments.
There
are moulds of inscriptions and early Christian
reliefs and sarcophagi including that in porphyry
of Constantina, the daughter of emperor
Constantine, that of urban prefect Junius
Bassus and that of st. Ambrose on exhibit
in the section dedicated to Christianity.
Among
the numerous other sections that reconstruct Roman
civilization in its varying aspects in detail, from
public life to everyday life, there are those
dedicated to the military sectors of the army and
navy, that of the ports and provinces of the
empire, a section dedicated to baths, aqueducts,
nymphaea and reservoir and a section illustrating
theatres, amphitheatres, circuses and arenas with
plastic models of
the Colosseum and the
Theatre of Marcello in Rome.
The
complete series of moulds of the Trajan Column
deserves a special mention, there are reliefs that
illustrate the two military campaigns of the
emperor Trajan against the Dacians (101-102 and
105-106 AD) and the plastic model of Rome (scale:
1:250; surface: 200 meters squared), created by
architect Italo Gismondi, which reproduces the city
as it was presented at the time of the emperor
Constantine, and it is reconstructed on the
basis of results and research and excavation
campaigns carried out over the years. It's
construction had started for the Augustan
Exhibition of the Roman World in 1937, it
was completed in the seventies and is a useful
instrument in learning about the ancient city, in an
interesting comparison with the aspects that the
same presents today.
during the 1800s, it was the object of a restoration
project in the early twentieth century conducted by
architect E. Guj, who transformed the structure and
brought it back to its original style.
The Barracco collection includes about 380 works
of Egyptian, Assyrian, Cypriot,
Greek, Etruscan and Roman
art which was supposed to offer, as intended by
the collector, an exhaustive panorama of the
development of sculpture from the cultures that
flourished in the Mediterranean area.
The
first two rooms exhibit the Egyptian collection
with works arranged in chronological order that span
a period of time between the start of the III
millennium and the era of Roman rule.
One
of the most important finds is the funeral stele
of Nefer, some finds from the Isea campense
of the Campo Marzio: the sphinx said to be
from Hatshepsut, a Leonine protome in wood and a
clepsydra in basalt, which is one of the most
beautiful examples of its kind; Assyrian art
is illustrated through several slabs decorated in
relief from Ninive and Nimrud, these
date from IX-VIII centuries B.c.
The Greek-Roman section is displayed on the
second floor and comprises both original attics
from V and IV centuries B.C. and Roman copies
of Greek works of art, in particular a
head of ephebe and a head of Athena from
a Magna-Greek background, three fragments of
works by Myron, copies of works by Polyclitus, etc.;
for the Roman period one can admire the fragment of
mosaic from the Villa di Livia at
Prima Porta, representing two partridges sipping
water.
Information and Addresses
Address Corso Vittorio Emanuele 11, 166/a; room on
ground floor where disabled may perform a virtual
tour of the museum
Visiting Hours Every day from 9.00 am to ].00
pm; Dec. 24 and 31 9.00 am - 2.00 pm
Closed Monday, Dec. 25, Jan. 1, May 1 Telephone
06 82059127;
Price € 3,00; concessions € 1,50
For
Tours information
– private guided tours – special entrances, no waiting in
line - VIP services
www.tourinrome.com
www.vaticanmuseuminformation.com
www.vaticanmuseumticket.com
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