Rome is the city of art par excellence. It is rich in history, monuments, piazzas and art that is permanently on display. Walking around the historical centre, visitors encounter numerous museums.
There is an extensive choice of museums including the majestic Vatican Museums with more than 4 million visitors each year. Additionally, there are the very central and ancient Capitoline Museums, as well as noteworthy museums such as the Borghese Gallery and the Archaeology Museums
There are also scientific museums such as the Planetarium, which in recent times have attracted many visitors including children, and contemporary art museums, which often have important exhibitions.
The variety of museums also includes a large quantity of activities. Numerous guided visits are organised to provide a better understanding of their collections. The instruction offered for school children and the general public help them approach the world of culture in a fun and light-hearted manner. There are also many bookshops which offer exhibition catalogues and books for in-depth study as well as gifts and souvenirs.
Special “cards” are offered to complete the cultural panorama, helping tourists move around museums and make payments.
You may consult the complete list of Rome Museums at: www.060608.it
MUST SEE:
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The Forum Romanum is situated in the valley between the Palatine Hill and the Capitol and consists of an almost trapezoid-shape... -
COLOSSEO
The emperors of the Flavia family built this large amphitheater for gladiatorial shows and hunts of wild animals, which in the following centuries became the symbol of the Eternal City. The building, called Colosseum starting from the Middle Ages perhaps due to the vicinity of an enormous statue of Nero (Colossus), rose on the area covered by the artificial lake of the Domus Aurea. -
GALLERIA NAZIONALE D'ARTE ANTICA - Palazzo Barberini
It was conceived as the self-celebration of the rise of a papal family. The huge complex of Palazzo Barberini was established by the Florentine Pope Urban VIII. -
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 xamples of classical archaeology which have either been lost or destroyed or of works, which have been pieced back together. -
MACRO
The first phase of conversion of the MACRO was completed in 1999 with the restoration of the old plant design of the Peroni brewery, built in the early twentieth century on via Reggio Emilia, and it has recently been expanded by the leading French architect Odile Decq. -
MUSEO DELL'ARA PACIS
The Ara Pacis is the first work of architecture built in the historical centre of Rome since the end of Fascism. The museum space was designed by the architectural studio of American architect Richard Meier, the author of some of the most notable museums of the second half of the 20th century. -
GALLERIA BORGHESE
The splendid small palace that hosts the Borghese Gallery was built at the beginning of the seventeenth century as the private residence and for public representation of the Borghese family. -
MUSEI VATICANI
The first core of the Vatican Museums and Galleries was a collection of ancient sculptures created by Jules the Second (1503-13). The idea of the Museum was conceived by Clement the Thirteenth (1758-69), who set up the Profane Museum with the assistance of Winckelmann. The Clementine Pious Museum was created by Clement the Fourteenth (1769-74) and Pious the Sixth (1775-99) and the Chiaramonti Museum was set up by Canova in 1807-1810 under Pious the Seventh. -
MUSEI CAPITOLINI
This museum was founded in 1471 by Pope Sextus IV with the donation to the Roman people of bronze statues of the Lateran (the She-Wolf, the Spinario, the Camillo and the enormous head of emperor Constantine with the hand and globe of power).
