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Capitoline Museums ,Musei
Capitolini ,Roma,Palazzo Nuovo, Tabularium , Palazzo
dei Conservatori , Pinacoteca Capitolina ,Rome,
The
Capitoline museums, which have now reopened to the
public after a long period of restoration of the
palaces which stand around the piazza (the
whole complex conceived by Michelangelo), offer
the visitor a wonderful itinerary: the Palano dei
Conservatori, with its Exhedra of Marcus Aurelius
and picture gallery, the Palazzo Nuovo,
the Tabularium (ancient records offices with
its Galleria Lapidaria (collection of epigraphs)
and the Palazzo Clementino Caffarelli, which
contains the Capitoline medals collection and
holds temporary exhibitions.
The
museums have been extended and reorganized as part
of an overall project to give an optimal rendering of
the Capitoline Hill's historical, architectural
and artistic merits: a highly detailed itinerary has
therefore been designed, new spaces have been acquired
and some sectors have been reorganized, with the opening
up and equipping with new displays of sections which
had been left closed, sometimes for long periods.
The
Capitoline collection, founded in 1471 by Pope
Sixtus IV with the donation to the Roman people
of the bronze statues of the Lateran (the
She-wolf, the 'Spinario', or Boy
extracting a thorn from his foot, the 'Camillus'
and the colossal head of the emperor-king
Constantine with its hand and orb), is regarded
as the oldest public museum in the world; moreover,
the restitution to the people of these works (the
Thesaurus Romanitatis, symbol of Rome's former grandeur)
took on a higher emblematic value as the Capitoline
had always been the centre of Ancient Rome's
religious life and, after a long period of abandonment,
seat of its chief civic offices from the Middle Ages
onwards.
These
sculptures were initially located on the front
and in the courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori.
Later,
several works of art originating from archaeological
excavations were added to the collection, including
the large Hercules in gilded bronze (2"d century
BC) found in the Forum Boarium during the
papacy of Sixtus IV, the fragments of the colossal
statue of Constantine (achieved using the
acrolithic technique with uncovered parts in marble
and clothing in stucco or bronze, dating back to between
313 and 324 AD) originally located in the Basilica
of Maxentius in
the Roman Forum,
the three marble relief panels, dating back to between
176 and 180 AD, depicting the exploits of the emperor
Marcus Aurelius (sacrificial scene in front of
the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter; triumph
of the emperor king; scene of imperial clemency
towards prisoners), transported in 1515 from
the church of SS. Luca e Martina in
the Forum,
and what is known as the 'Capitoline Brutus',
a bronze bust dating back to between the 4th and the
3th centuries BC, donated to the museum
by Cardinal Pio da Carpi in 1564.
The original
historical nature of the Capitoline collection
was however altered in 1566, when Pope Pius V
decided to remove the images of pagan idols from
the Vatican and donated over
140 ancient statues to the Capitol, turning
the museum into a great collection of classical
sculpture. In 1654 the Palazzo Nuovo was
built as part of Michelangelo's brilliant project
to restructure the whole area of the piazza,
making it possible to move several of the statues
there.
To these
was added the collection of Cardinal Albani in
1733, which included over 400 sculptures
and portraits, allowing Pope Clement XII
to open the Capitoline Museum in 1734.
It was
in this period that many statues were added to the
Capitoline collections, including the Capitoline
Venus, a Roman copy of a Hellenistic original
deriving from the Venus of Cnidus (2"d century
BC), the Drunken Faun in 'rosso antico'
marble, the two centaurs in 'bigio morato' (black
with white flecks) and a mosaic with doves originating
from Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli (2"d century
AD), in addition to the famous statue of the Dying
Gaul, which was part of the Ludovisi collection.
There
were major additions to the Capitoline collections
towards the end of the 19th century after Rome
became the capital of a unified Italy
in 1870 and new areas were excavated for the construction
of modern neighborhoods.
In the
same period, thanks to the generosity of private
collectors who donated their remarkable collections,
the Capitoline Museums acquired the Castellani
Collection of Greek and Etruscan vases
and the Cini Collection of precious porcelain.
The
Medagliere Capitolino (Capitoline medals collection)
now housed in the Palazzo Clementino Caffarelli
also came into being in 1872 with the acquisition
of important private collections of coins,
medals, gems and jewels from city
excavations.
The
Galleria Lapidaria may be reached from the Palazzo
Nuovo via the so-called Galleria Congiunzione
which runs under the piazza.
It has
now re-opened after thirty years' closure, and the new
display illustrates the most important aspects of
Ancient Rome's public and private life by means
of over 3,000 inscriptions in Latin, Greek
and Hebrew, combining a high level of scientific
rigor with the need to satisfy a growing interest and
attention on the part of the general public.
The
Galleria Lapidaria is divided into nine thematic
sections: ''Languages'', "Profession sand
Trades", "Games", "Burials", "Worship",
''Law'', "Roads and Aqueducts", "Soldiers"
and the "Roman Aristocracy".
The
gallery also has an informatics point where all
the inscriptions can be viewed complete with images
and translations into Italian and English.
There is also a specific itinerary for the visually
disabled and a musical commentary which accompanies
the visitor all the way, right up to the spectacular
view from the Tabularium over the Roman Forum.
Indeed,
from here the museum itinerary takes us to the imposing
structure of the Tabularium, with its monumental
arches.
This
was the ancient public archive of the people of Rome,
where the bronze tabulae were preserved containing
the laws and official acts of state.
Its construction
was completed by Quintus Lutatius Catulus, consul
in 78 BC.
It stood
on a high podium against the slopes of the hill
and it was built on several storeys, which overlooked
the square behind.
The previously
existing Temple of Veiove, a youthful underworld
version of Jupiter of ancient Italic origin,
was incorporated into its design, and its cult statue
(double life-size) still survives, unfortunately minus
its head.
As for
the remains of the temple, which was consecrated in
192 BC, the area of the inner chamber may be
seen, with its laterally elongated plan: his was only
discovered in 1939 during the building of the above-mentioned
Galleria Congiunzione.
lndeed,
the Palazzo Senatorio is built on top of both
the Tabularium and the protruding parts of
the Tempie of Veiove, which has preserved both buildings
from otherwise likely destruction.
Continuing
along this memorable itinerary, we come to the Palazzo
dei Conservatori (the name derives from the holders
of civil office who played a central role in municipal
government from the mid 14th century onwards) after
crossing a large courtyard containing important ancient
sculptures, including the fragments of the
above-mentioned colossal acrolith of Constantine
and reliefs depicting military trophies
and conquered provinces originating from the Temple
of the Deified Hadrian (145 AD), the imposing remains
of which are still visible in Piazza di Pietra.
We ascend
the grand stairway to the first floor, which constitutes
the original nucleus of the building, with its frescoed
halls such as the 'Sala degli Orazi e Curiazi',
which tells the legendary story of the origins of
Rome in the cycle painted by Cavalier d'Arpino and
his pupils between 1595 and 1640 (the finding of the
twins by the she-wolf; the battle of the Veientes
and the Fidenati; combat between the Horatii
and Curiatii; Rape of the Sabine Women;
Numa Pomplius founds the cult of the Vestal
Virgins; Ramulus draws the perimeter trench around
his square city).
The many
other rooms of the Palazzo del Conservatori include
the Sala dei Capitani, frescoed by Tommaso
Laureti between 1587 and 1594 (with scenes extolling
the virtue and courage recounted in the stories of
Muclus Scaevola and Porsenna; Horatius
Cocles on the Subllclan Bridge the Justice of Brutus
and the victory of Lake Regillus); and the Sala
di Annibale, which contains the original frescoes
dating back to the beginning of the 16th century (depicting
various episode from the Punic Wars: the triumph
of Rome over SiciIy; Hannlbals descent
into Italy; the peace negotiations between
Lutatius Catulus and Hamilcar; and the Battle
of the Aegadian Islands).
The various
statues present in the Palazzo dei Conservatori
apart from those already mentioned: the She-wolf,
the 'Spinario' (Boy extracting a thorn from
his foot), the 'Camillus' and the 'Capitoline
Brutus' - include the marble statue of Pope Urban
VIII designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1640),
the bronze statue of Pope Innocent X by Alessandro
Algardi (1645-1650) and the recently restored Medusa's
head by Bernini (1644-1648)
Continuing
along the museum itinerary, we may admire the
effective new setting of the famous equestrian statue
in gilt bronze of the emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180
AD), which Pope Paul III ordered moved to
the Capitoline Hill from the Lateran in 1538 and
which, under Michelangelo's project, stood In
the centre of the piazza (bronze copy cast by the State
Mint was positioned there in 1997) The sculpture group,
which returned to the Campidoglio in 1990 after
restoration work lasting nine years and spent fifteen
years in an air-conditioned ground-floor hall off the
Courtyard of the Palazzo Nuovo, now stands on
a new base which allows it to be viewed correctly from
close quarters, and is housed in the what is known as
the Exhedra of Marcus Aurelius.
inaugurated
In December 2005, this is a vast oval-shaped hall (1,000
sq. m.) with a glass-coffered ceiling and controlled
temperature and humidity, designed by Carlo Aymonino,
occupying the area which used to contain the Roman
Garden.
Some
of the great Capitoline bronzes have been brought
together in the exhedra (the colossal head
of the emperor Constantine and his hand holding an orb,
and the bronze Hercules, nude and armed with
a club, which originates from the Forum Boarium);
here, the perimeter wall of the Temple of Capitoline
Jupiter, dedicated to luppiter Optimus Maximus
and to the two goddesses of the Capitoline triad,
Juno and Minerva, may now be seen aII the way
down to its foundation base.
The building
was started by King Tarquinius Priscus and completed
by the last king of Rome, Tarquin the Proud,
but the temple was only inaugurated at the beginning
of the Republic in 509 BC.
It stood
on a high podium with a flight of steps at the front,
and was surrounded by a colonnade on three sides, with
another two rows of columns aligned with those
on the façade inside the deep porch in front of the
three chambers.
The extant
remains of the foundations and podium consist of enormous
parallel wall structures of blocks of 'cappellaccio'
tufa indicating the broad extension of the base
of the building (about 55 x 60 meters).
The
roof of the temple was decorated by a grandiose
terracotta four-horse chariot, a 6th century
work by the Etruscan artist Vulca of Veii, but
the temple was rebuilt in marble after total destruction
in the fires of 83 BC and 69 and 80 AD.
Findings
from the excavations of the Area Sacra di S. Omobono
in the Forum Boarium have been placed in the
area next to the remains of the Temple of Capitoline
Jupiter.
These
include the statues in painted terracotta depicting
Heracles and Athena which decorated "the top of
one of the temples of the sanctuary, dedicated to
Fortuna and Mater Matuta, and a few architectural
pieces from the same building dating back to the
reign of Servius Tullius in the 2n: half of the
6th century BC.
The new
museum display has also renewed the vast sector
devoted to the Horti romani, the sumptuous villas
which the patrician families possessed across the city,
including the Horti Lamiani on the Esquiline.
Here,
a bust often emperor 19 Commodus was found at the end
of the 2'" century AD and also the Esquiline Venus,
a nude portrayed binding her hair before bathing.
On the
stand, next to the statue, is a sculpture of an Egyptian
vase with a snake wrapped around it and a basket of
roses, suggesting a representation of Isis and Osiris,
according to the religious synthesis which operated
in Hellenized Egypt.
The
goddess is accompanied by two figures of priestesses
or muses, who are very similar in the treatment of the
marble surface and the porcelain-like finish of the
skin: the three pieces may be dated to the early
imperial age.
Further
ascending the great stairway, we come to the Pinacoteca
Capitolina. or Capitoline picture gallery:
the first nucleus of the collection was formed with
the acquisition of the picture collections of the Sacchetti
marquises (1748) and the Pio of Savoy princes (1750)
under the papacy of Benedict XIV.
It included
about 300 pictures which were brought together
for a joint purpose: to avoid dissipating the collections
on the antiques market, and to encourage the study
of the works by the "Scuola del Nudo" of the
Accademia di San Luca, which was based in one of the
rooms of the Palazzo dei Conservatori Reopened
to the public in 1999, the Capitoline picture gallery
boasts a totally new itinerary in chronological order,
starting with paintings from the late Middle Ages and
ending with those of the 18'h century
The works
from the Veneto and Ferrara schools constitute
the main core of the collection, which includes the
Baptism of Christ (c. 1512) by Titian, the Rape
of Europa by Veronese - a mythological subject very
dear to the painter, an Annunciation by Garofalo (1528)
and a Holy Family by Dosso Dossi (1527).
The
collection also includes masterpieces by Caravaggio:
the Fortune Teller (an early work of 1595 from
the collection of Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte,
one of the artist's first patrons), and St John the
Baptist, painted in 1602 for the Mattei family.
The collection
also includes important paintings with mythological
themes commissioned from Pietro da Cortona by the Sacchetti
family between 1624 and 1630: the Sacrifice of Polyxena;
the Rape of the Sabine Women and the Triumph of Bacchus,
as well as a notable group of works by Guido Reni which
includes an early painting of St Sebastian (C.1615)
and canvases from his mature period depicting Cleopatra,
Lucretia, the Young girl with a crown and
the Blessed Soul (1640-1642).
In the
hall built in 1752 is the monumental altarpiece of St
Petronilla by Guercino, executed between 1622 and
1623 for an altar in the Basilica of St Peter
and commissioned by Pope Gregory
xv.
Works
by foreign painters include the canvas of Romulus and
Remus being suckled by the She-wolf, by Pieter
Paul Rubens and assistants (1617-1618), portraits by
Anton Van Dyck (1627-1629) and the self-portrait by
Diego Velasquez (1649-1651)
Information
and Addresses
Address
Piazza del Campidoglio, 1
Visiting
Hours Every day from 9.00 am to 8.00 pm; 24 and
31 Dec. 9.00 am - 2.00 pm
Closed
Monday, Dec. 25, Ja n.1, May 1
Telephone
0682059127; Fax 06 6785488;
Bookings
39967800 (evenings)
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