CAPITOLUM MUSEUM
BEST AREAS
The Capitoline Museums were established, in 1471 when Sistus IV
donated to the people of Rome a collection of bronze statues. From the very beginning, they were thought for
keeping material discovered in Rome and its surrounding areas.
|
Additional
statues were added to the collection by Paul III and Pius IV during the 16th
century, as well as by Clemens XII and Benedict XIV during the 18th century.
Over the years the museum was constantly enriched by new donations, acquisitions
and archaeological finds, while a consistent amount of new material reached the
museums following the urbanistic works carried out after 1870, when Rome became
the capital of Italy. The Museums are housed in two separate palaces, facing
each other on the Piazza del Campidoglio: Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo
Nuovo. The first was built in 1560, but only after one century, the Palazzo
Nuovo was finished by Girolamo Rinaldi. With the Palazzo Senatorio, they form
the architectural composition of Piazza del Campidoglio, with its distinctive
trapezoid shape, originally designed by Michelangelo. Since its foundation, the
museum has exclusively been devoted to ancient statuary. The famous equestrian
statue of Marcus Aurelius, a bronze original dating back to 175 AD, has recently
been relocated inside the museums in order to preserve it from pollution , the
one outside, is in fact a copy. One of the most famous pieces on display is the
Galata Morente (the Dying Gaul), copy of an original bronze statue donated to
the temple of Athena by Attalus I after his victory on the Gauls.
Also
remarkable are the Capitoline Venus, and the Wounded Amazon, from an original by
Phydias dating back to the 5th century BC. |
The museum also houses a collection
of busts portraying the Roman emperors from Augustus to Constantine, and some
empresses while the Hall of the Philosophers exhibits a number of portraits of
famous Greek men as Homer, Socrates, Demosthenes, Epicurus. The two Centaurs and
a Satyr, coloured statues from Villa Adriana, as well as the famous Mosaic of
the Doves (picturing two doves watering from a vase) are also particularly
remarkable.
|