Apartments in Rome

The Museo Nazionale Romano is housed in the Baths which Diocletian had built between the last years of the third century and the beginning of the fourth century A.C. (the dedicatory inscription dated 306 A.C. is conserved in a fragmentary state in the Museum). The building of the baths, the largest in the ancient world, included many rooms besides the traditional calidarium, tepidarium and frigidarium - which were designed to hold 3,000 people at the same time. There was a natatio or frigidarium for swimmers (Iarge open air swimming pool) and various other rooms, meeting rooms, librarie s, nymphaleums, dressing rooms, concert rooms and rooms for physical exercices etc. The calidarium, which was partially conserved up to the seventeenth century, took up part of what is now Piazza dell’Esedra. There remains today the apse wall, which is now the entrance to the church of S. Maria degli Angeli. The tepidarium can be identified in the large domed round octagonal hall which now corresponds to the transept of the Basilica. The covered frigidarium may be identified with the vast hall which Michelangelo, commissioned by Pius IV in 1561, converted into the nave of the church, creating its entrance at the eastern end towards what is today the Piazza dei Cinquecento. Michelangelo incorporated the framework of the classical ruins into his design but treated them with the greatest respect. The history of the Baths has never been a happy one, beginning with the siege of Vitige, who cut off the Roman acqueducts in 538, the building has been despoiled for centuries and looted for all the material cons­idered useful up unti! the last ravages for the construction of Stazione Termini.

The idea, first discussed in 1889, for choosing the Baths as the home for the Archaelogical Museum was put into effect in 1907 with the passing of the necessary law. In 1911, the Monument was the site of the Archaelogical Exhibition held in Rome on the occasion of the 50th an­niversary of the proclamation of the kingdom of Italy.

At the present time, on account of staff shortages and reorganisation and building work in progress, certain rooms are closed to the public. Nevertheless the most important works in these parts of the museum, which are at present temporarily closed, are indicated hare.

In the group of rooms which makes up the first part of the itinerary, particular attention should be paid to the sarcophagi with representations of a Dyonisian Thiasos, dating trom the end of the third century A.C.; the legend of Phedra (Room I); standing Muses of the “colonnette” type which date trom the end of the forth century A.C. (ROOM II); a Christian Sarcophagus bearing the name of Marcus Claudianus; a fragment of a Hebrew sarcophagus, figuring the Candelabrum with seven arms, a poly­chrome mosaic trom Via Merulana dating from the third century A.C. (Room III); a mosaic from Collemancio near Assisi figuring hunting Pygmies and animals; the dedicatory inscription of the Baths of Diocletian; the colossal statue of Kore which came trom Ariccia, a Roman replica from the originai attributed either to Kresilas or to Alkamenes; the sarcophagus showing details of the cavalry battle batween the Romans and Barbarians, from the end of the second century A.D.; the other sarcophagus figuring the meeting of Dionysus with Arianne trom the end of the second century A.C.. (Room IV); the mosaic showing quadrigae taking part in a race in the circus, which came from Via Imperiae and which dates back to the fourth century A.C.

ROOM XI contains the marble fragments bearing the inscrip­tions known as the Acts of the Arval Brotherhood, followers of the cult of the Goddes Ceres. One should also note the splendid mosaic of Nereids riding on marine animals (from Casalotti) and those of Hector being dragged in the dust (from Ceccano) and of Hercules and Acheleus (from Anzio). From here we pass into ROOM IX (with its double apse) where there is a sarcophagus in the form of a basin, an arch·sarcophagus from the Via Tuscolana a bath and several architectonic elements.

ROOM X contains the reconstructed tomb of Gaius Sulpicius Platorinus and his family, discovered during the building of the Tiber embankment between Ponte Sisto and the Farnesina. Opposite there is a tomb with murai decorations on the walls and ceilings of the rooms; this was discovered at the foot of the hill of Monteverde in Rome.

The itinerary continues through the modern garden towards Piazza dei Cinquecento, which today constitutes the entrance which corresponds in part to the ancient garden of the Baths and which contains architectural marble remains, part of the collection of inscriptions belonging to the museum and miscellaneous archeo· logical materia!. A small glassed·in arcade (mosaics and fragments of reliefs) leads from the garden into an entrance hall from which one enters the new rooms.

(Open: 9-14, Tuesdays and Saturdays 17-20, holi­days 9-13, closed Mondays). Remodelled by Giacomo Della Porta from a design by Michelangelo, it served as model for the neighboring Palazzo Nuovo, which it matches. The facade is softened by the elegant rhythmic procession of large pilaster strips with large balconi ed windows and a charming portico set in front of the building. Particularly fine, on the attic, is the scenographic balustrade with its decorative marble statues. Important museums are )loused here: the Sale dei Conservatori, the Palazzo dei Conservatori, the Braccio Nuovo, the Museo Nuovo and the Pinacoteca.

Built by Girolamo Rainaldi for Pope lnnocent X, it is identi­cal to the neighboring Palazzo dei Conservatori and was al so originally designed by Michelangelo. The rhythmic procession of large pilaster strips lends grace to the facade and presents, on the attic, a scenography of marble statues “decorated” with a balustrade. The large balconi ed windows and the portico leading to the palace are particularly fine. lt houses the Capitoline Museum.

The Capitoline Museums are housed in the Palazzo dei Conservatori and the Palazzo Nuovo or del Museo, which face each other across the Piazza del Campidoglio; they were built in the Campidoglio and included in the design of the Square drawn up by Michelangelo.

The two buildings are characterised by the use of, enormous orders of Corinthian pilasters which divide the façades and a portico trabeated with columns backing onto the pilasters; both are adorned with a balustrade and marble statues.

The Palazzo dei Conservatori, which was built in 1568 by Giacomo della Porta to the design of Michelangelo, contains the Sale dei Conservatori, the Museo del Palazzo dei Conservatori, the Braccio Nuovo, the Museo Nuovo, the Pinacoteca Capitolina and the Medagliere. The Palazzo detto Nuovo, or del Museo, also to a design by Michelan­gelo, was built by Girolamo Rainaldi in 1655 and houses the Capitoline Museum. The Raccolta Lapidaria is situated in the gallery which connects the three buildings under the Square. Going up the stairs on the left of the Palazzo dei Conservatori one reaches the Protomoteca and then through the Portico del Vignola, the Palazzo Caffarelli, which contains the Antiquarium Comunale.

The foundation of the Capitoline Museums dates back to 1471, when Sixtus IV donated certain works in bronze to the Roman People. There is therefore good reason to consider them the oldest existing public collection in the world. This collection was constantly added to over the centuries by donations, acquisitions and above ali as a result of discoveries made in Roman territory, until this latter privilege passed to the Museo Pio-Clementino, set up in the Vatican in 1772.

The Sala Lapidaria (1816] and the Pinacoteca (1818) were added during the nineteenth century following the, recovery of sculptures which had been carried off in the Napoleonic period (among others the Dying Gaul, Brutus, the Venus of the Capitol and Spinarius). At a later date the Protomoteca and the Medagliere were added and, following the return of other sculptures, the Museo del Palazzo dei Conservatori was set up next to the apartment of the Con­servatori. The museums were continually reorganized and developed as new rooms were added at the end of the nineteenth century and during this century up to the recent reorganization completed in 1971 to mark the first centenery of the Capitoline Museums.

From earliest times on, the Capitoline hill (or Campidoglio) was the center of the political, sodal, and religious life of Rome. In addition to the old asylum, this was the site of the great Italic tempIe dedicated to the Capitoline Jupiter, and the name of Capitolium was used almost exclusively to designate the tempie rather than the entire site. Among others the arx, with the Temple of Juno Moneta (the Admonisher) and the tempie of the Vetus, also stood on the northern tip of the two knolls which comprised the height. The clivus capitolinus was the carriage road which led to the hill of the forum; there was also a flight of stairs which led to the arx alone and from which, near the Mamertine Prisons, the famous Scalae Gemoniae branched off.

The most sacred of the hills of Rome (even though the smallest) has continued to be the seat of power throughout the centuries. Michelangelo’s Piazza del Campidoglio now stands on its summit, defined by illustrious palaces and magnificently decorated by the statue of Marcus Aurelius, set at the center of the intriguing interplay of ellipses and volutes Michelangelo himself designed on the gray pavement of the square. Formerly in the Lateran square, the Mar­cus Aurelius was moved to the Capitoline in 1538 and had not apparently been previously taken into consideration by Michelangelo as decoration for the square.