Museum of Roman Civilization

Archeological museum in Rome, Italy

Museum of Roman Civilization

Museo della Civiltà Romana

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Established| 1952 (1952)
Location| Piazza Giovanni Agnelli 10, 00144 Rome, Italy
Coordinates| 41°49′55″N 12°28′41″E﻿ / ﻿41.83194°N 12.47806°E﻿ / 41.83194; 12.47806
Type| Archaeology, Art Museum
Website| www.museociviltaromana.it

The Museum of Roman Civilization (Italian: Museo della Civiltà Romana) is a museum in the Esposizione Universale Roma district of Rome devoted to aspects of Ancient Roman Civilization.

The museum has been closed for renovation since 2014.

## History and general introduction

[edit]

The museum from the outside

The museum was designed by the architects Pietro Ascheri, D. Bernardini and Cesare Pascoletti[1] (1939–1941). Its 59 sections[2] illustrate the history of Roman civilization from its origins to the 4th century, with models and reproductions, as well as original material. The premises are shared with a planetarium.

Model of ancient Rome by Italo Gismondi Detail of the model of the Capitoline Hill

It houses, among other things:

* a model of Archaic Rome (Room XVIII)
* Il Plastico di Roma Imperiale, a 1:250 scale[3] model of ancient Rome in the age of Constantine I by Italo Gismondi (Room XXXVII-XXXVIII), derived from the early 3rd-century Severan Forma Urbis Romae as updated by Lanciani and integrated with archeological discoveries. This model is made of plaster. The model was ordered by Mussolini in 1933 in honor of Augustus's 2000th birthday, was begun in 1935, and adjusted throughout Gismondi's life until 1971.
* examples of late imperial and early Christian art
* a complete sequence of casts of the spiral reliefs round Trajan's Column,[3] arranged in horizontal rows at ground level to facilitate reading.
* a reconstructed Roman library based on that in the Villa Adriana at Tivoli[4]

The museum was closed for renovation in January 2014.[5] Work on the renovation was started in June 2017;[6] as of January 2024, no date has been announced for the reopening.

## Structure

[edit]

There are three main itineraries through the museum:

* Historical sections
* Thematic sections
* Model of Imperial Rome

### Historical sections

[edit]

* Room V-VI: Roman Legends and Primitive Culture - the origins of Rome
* Room VII: The conquest of the Mediterranean
* Room VIII: Caesar
* Room IX: Augustus
* Lifesize copy of the pronaos of the Monumentum Ancyranum, the Temple of Augustus and Rome, Ankara, Turkey, including the Res Gestae Divi Augusti inscription
* Scale reconstruction model (1:100) of the Theatre of Marcellus, Rome
* Scale reconstruction model (1:20) of the Tropaeum Alpium in La Turbie, France
* Scale reconstruction model (1:200) of the Pont du Gard, Nîmes, France
* Room X: The family of Augustus and the Julio-Claudian emperors
* Room XI: The Flavian Dynasty
* Room XII: Trajan and Hadrian
* Room XIII: The emperors from Antoninus Pius to the Severans
* Room XIV: The emperors from Macrinus to Justinian
* Room XV: Christianity
* Room XVI: The army
* Room XVIII: Model of archaic Rome

### Thematic sections

[edit]

* Room XXXVI: School
* Room XXXIX: Living spaces
* Room XLVI: Rights
* Room XLVII: Libraries
* Room XLVIII: Music
* Room XLIX: Literature and science
* Room L: Medicine and drugs
* Room LI: Trajan's Column
* Room LII: Industry and craft
* Room LIII: Agriculture, herding and land management
* Room LIV: Hunting, fishing and food
* Room LV: Commerce and economic life
* Room LVI: Art of rome

### Model of Imperial Rome

[edit]

* Room XXXVII-XXXVIII: Model of Imperial Rome (in the age of Constantine I)

## Appearance in popular culture

[edit]

Il Plastico is today the most important reference for any serious attempt of reconstruction of the Ancient Rome: it has been used for the "Rome Reborn 1.0" 3D Visualization Project (B. Frischer, Director, University of Virginia; D. Favro, Associate Director, UCLA; D. Abernathy, Director of 3D Modeling, University of Virginia; G. Guidi, Director of 3D Scanning, Politecnico di Milano). Gismondi's model can be seen also in a few shots of Ridley Scott's Gladiator.

In the James Bond film Spectre, the marble colonnade of the museum doubled as a cemetery after the Archconfraternity of the Departed[7] confraternity barred the filming of a funeral scene at the Campo Verano cemetery.[8][9] The music video of the song "Cruel Summer" Ace of Base was also filmed at here in 1998.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ The Buildings of Europe: Rome, section 191, Christopher Woodward, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1995, ISBN 0-7190-4032-9
2. ^ s.r.o, Tripomatic. "Museum of Roman Civilization in Rome, Italy". travel.sygic.com.
3. ^ a b "Museo della Civiltà Romana (Museum of Roman Civilization) in Rome - Attraction | Frommer's". www.frommers.com.
4. ^ "Museum of Roman Civilization, Rome, Italy". www.museolibroantico.com.
5. ^ "Resta chiuso il Museo della Civiltà Romana durante il Giubileo". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 2015-10-20. Retrieved 2019-11-06.Corriere+della+SeraCategory:Articles+containing+Italian-language+text&rft.atitle=Resta+chiuso+il+Museo+della+Civiltà+Romana+durante+il+Giubileo&rft.date=2015-10-20&rft_id=http://roma.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/15_ottobre_19/resta-chiuso-museo-civilta-romana-il-giubileo-6ff848c8-7692-11e5-9086-b57baad6b3f4.shtml&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Museum+of+Roman+Civilization" class="Z3988">
6. ^ "Al via i lavori al Museo della Civiltà Romana - aperto il cantiere da venerdì 9 giugno 2017". www.museociviltaromana.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-11-06.
7. ^ Arciconfraternita di Carità verso i Trapassati
8. ^ "James Bond: New 'Spectre' Pic Starts Rome Segment Shoot". Variety. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
9. ^ "James Bond ordered not to film in Roman cemetery". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2016.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Model of Archaic Rome
* Media related to Museo della Civiltà Romana (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons

* v
* t
* e

Museums and art galleries in Rome

List of museums in Rome

National
museums|

* Galleria Borghese
* Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna
* Boncompagni Ludovisi Decorative Art Museum
* Galleria Spada
* MAXXI
* Museo Archeologico Ostiense
* Museo Nazionale Etrusco
* Museo nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia
* Museo Storico Nazionale dell'Arte Sanitaria
* National Museum of Oriental Art
* Pigorini National Museum

| Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica|

* Palazzo Barberini
* Palazzo Corsini

|

Museo Nazionale Romano (Palazzo Massimo)|

* Baths of Diocletian

Civic museums|

* Capitoline Museums
* Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna
* Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
* Museo Barracco di Scultura Antica
* Museo Civico di Zoologia
* Museo delle Mura
* Museo di Roma
* Museo di Roma in Trastevere
* Museum of Roman Civilization
* Museum of the Ara Pacis
* Ara Pacis

Other|

* Casa di Goethe
* Galleria Doria Pamphilj
* Giorgio de Chirico House Museum
* Jewish Museum of Rome
* Keats-Shelley Memorial House
* Museo delle anime del Purgatorio
* Museum of the Liberation of Rome
* Palazzo Colonna
* Porta San Paolo Railway Museum
* Santa Cecilia Musical Instruments Museum
* Venanzo Crocetti Museum

Vatican Museums|

* Anima Mundi
* Modern Religious Art
* Museo Pio Cristiano
* Raphael Rooms
* Sistine Chapel
* Vatican Historical Museum

Preceded by
Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome | Landmarks of Rome
Museum of Roman Civilization  | Succeeded by
Museum of the Ara Pacis

|
|

* v
* t
* e

Landmarks of Rome

Walls and gates|

* Aurelian Walls
* Ardeatina
* Asinaria
* Latina
* Maggiore
* Metronia
* Nomentana
* Pia
* Pinciana
* Popolo
* Portese
* San Pancrazio
* San Paolo
* San Giovanni
* San Sebastiano
* Settimiana
* Tiburtina
* Leonine Wall
* Cavalleggeri
* Pertusa
* Santo Spirito
* Castra Praetoria
* Janiculum Wall
* Terreus Wall
* Romuli Wall
* Servian Wall
* Caelimontana
* Capena
* Collina
* Dolabella
* Esquilina
* Fontinalis
* Gallienus
* Viminale
* Naevia
* Querquetulana
* Trigemina

Ancient obelisks|

* Lateran Obelisk
* Flaminian Obelisk
* Obelisk of Minerveo
* Obelisk of Montecitorio

Ancient Roman
landmarks|

| Triumphal arches|

* Arch of Constantine
* Arch of Dolabella
* Arch of Drusus
* Arch of Gallienus
* Arch of Janus
* Arch of Septimius Severus
* Arch of Titus
* Arcus Novus

|

Aqueducts|

* Aqua Appia
* Aqua Alexandrina
* Aqua Anio Vetus
* Aqua Anio Novus
* Aqua Claudia
* Aqua Julia
* Aqua Marcia
* Aqua Tepula

Sewers|

* Cloaca Maxima
* Cloaca Circi Maximi

Public baths|

* Baths of Agrippa
* Baths of Caracalla
* Baths of Diocletian
* Baths of Nero
* Baths of Trajan

Religious|

* Ara Pacis
* Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
* Temple of Apollo Palatinus
* Temple of Apollo Sosianus
* Temple of Hadrian
* Temple of Hercules Victor
* Temple of Janus
* Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus
* Temple of Jupiter Tonans
* Temple of Minerva Medica
* Temple of Portunus
* Temple of Saturn
* Temple of Vesta
* House of the Vestals
* Largo di Torre Argentina
* Lupercal
* Pantheon
* Porta Maggiore Basilica

Fora|

* Roman Forum
* Imperial fora
* Forum of Augustus
* Forum of Caesar
* Forum of Nerva
* Forum of Vespasian
* Trajan's Forum
* Forum Boarium
* Forum Holitorium

Civic|

* Basilica Argentaria
* Basilica Julia
* Basilica of Junius Bassus
* Basilica of Maxentius
* Basilica of Neptune
* Basilica Ulpia
* Comitium
* Curia Julia
* Portico Dii Consentes
* Porticus Octaviae
* Tabularium

Entertainment|

* Circus Maximus
* Circus of Maxentius
* Circus of Nero
* Colosseum
* Ludus Magnus
* Gardens of Maecenas
* Gardens of Sallust
* Stadium of Domitian
* Theatre of Marcellus
* Theatre of Pompey

Palaces and villae|

* Domus Augustana
* Domus Aurea
* Domus Transitoria
* Flavian Palace
* House of Augustus
* Palace of Domitian
* Villa Gordiani
* Villa of Livia
* Insula dell'Ara Coeli
* Villa of the Quintilii
* Villa of the sette bassi

Column monuments|

* Column of Antoninus Pius
* Column of Marcus Aurelius
* "Column of Phocas"
* Trajan's Column
* Five-Columns Monument

Commerce|

* Porticus Aemilia
* Trajan's Market

Tombs|

* Casal Rotondo
* Catacombs of Domitilla
* Catacombs of Rome
* Catacombs of San Sebastiano
* Columbarium of Pomponius Hylas
* Mausoleum of Augustus
* Mausoleum of Helena
* Mausoleum of Maxentius
* Pyramid of Cestius
* Tomb of Eurysaces the Baker
* Tomb of Hilarus Fuscus
* Tomb of the Haterii
* Tomb of the Scipios
* Tombs of Via Latina
* Tomb of Priscilla
* Vigna Randanini

Bridges|

* Pons Cestius
* Pons Fabricius
* Ponte Milvio
* Ponte Sant'Angelo

Roman Catholic
basilicas|

* Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran
* Basilica of Saint Mary Major
* Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls
* Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican
* S. Lorenzo fuori le mura
* S. Agnese fuori le mura
* S. Agostino
* S. Anastasia al Palatino
* S. Andrea delle Fratte
* S. Andrea della Valle
* S. Antonio da Padova in Via Merulana
* S. Apollinare alle Terme
* Ss. Apostoli
* S. Balbina
* S. Bartolomeo all'Isola
* Ss. Bonifacio ed Alessio
* S. Camillo de Lellis
* S. Carlo al Corso
* S. Cecilia in Trastevere
* Ss. Celso e Giuliano
* S. Clemente
* Ss. Cosma e Damiano
* S. Crisogono
* S. Croce in Via Flaminia
* S. Croce in Gerusalemme
* S. Eugenio
* S. Eustachio
* S. Francesca Romana
* S. Giovanni a Porta Latina
* S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini
* Ss. Giovanni e Paolo
* S. Lorenzo in Damaso
* S. Lorenzo in Lucina
* S. Maria Ausiliatrice
* S. Marco
* S. Maria degli Angeli
* S. Maria in Montesanto
* S. Maria in Cosmedin
* S. Maria in Domnica
* S. Maria in Aracoeli
* S. Maria del Popolo
* S. Maria sopra Minerva
* S. Maria in Trastevere
* S. Maria in Via
* S. Maria in Via Lata
* S. Maria della Vittoria
* S. Martino ai Monti
* Ss. Nereo e Achilleo
* S. Nicola in Carcere
* S. Pancrazio
* Pantheon
* S. Pietro in Vincoli
* S. Prassede
* S. Pudenziana
* Ss. Quattro Coronati
* S. Saba
* S. Sabina
* Sacro Cuore di Maria
* Sacro Cuore di Cristo Re
* Sacro Cuore di Gesù a Castro Pretorio
* S. Sebastiano fuori le mura
* S. Silvestro in Capite
* S. Sisto Vecchio
* S. Sofia a Via Boccea
* S. Stefano Rotondo
* S. Teresa
* S. Vitale

Other churches|

* List of churches in Rome

Castles and palaces|

* Arx
* Casa dei Cavalieri di Rodi
* Castel Sant'Angelo
* Domus Internationalis Paulus VI
* Palazzo Aragona Gonzaga
* Palazzo Barberini
* Palazzo Barberini ai Giubbonari
* Palazzo Borghese
* Palazzo della Cancelleria
* Palazzo Chigi
* Palazzo Colonna
* Palazzo della Consulta
* Palazzo Farnese
* Palazzo Fusconi-Pighini
* Palazzo Giustinani
* Lateran Palace
* Palazzo Madama
* Palazzo Malta
* Palazzo di Giustizia
* Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne
* Palazzo Mattei
* Palazzo del Quirinale
* Palazzo Pamphilj
* Palazzo Poli
* Palazzo Riario
* Palazzo Ruspoli
* Palazzo Spada
* Palazzo Valentini
* Palazzo Vidoni-Caffarelli
* Palazzo del Viminale
* Palazzo Wedekind
* Palazzo Zuccari
* Villa Farnesina
* Villa Giulia
* Villa Madama

Fountains|

* Api
* Acqua Felice
* Acqua Paola
* Babuino
* Barcaccia
* Il Facchino
* Marforio
* Moro
* Nasone
* Navicella
* Neptune
* Nettuno
* del Pantheon
* Pianto
* di Piazza d'Aracoeli
* di Piazza Colonna
* di Piazza Farnese
* della Piazza dei Quiriti
* di Piazza Nicosia
* in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere
* di Ponte Sisto
* Quattro Fiumi
* Quattro Fontane
* Tartarughe
* Trevi Fountain
* Tritons
* Tritone

Other landmarks|

* Altare della Patria (Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of Italy)
* Campo Verano
* Capocci Tower
* Column of the Immaculate Conception
* Conti Tower
* Hospital of the Holy Spirit
* Milizie Tower
* Sisto Bridge
* Spanish Steps

Squares, streets
and public spaces|

* Appian Way
* Campo de' Fiori
* Clivus Capitolinus
* Piazza Colonna
* Piazza d'Aracoeli
* Piazza del Popolo
* Piazza della Minerva
* Piazza della Repubblica
* Piazza Farnese
* Piazza Navona
* Piazza San Pietro
* Piazza di Spagna
* Piazza Venezia
* Via dei Coronari
* Via del Corso
* Via della Conciliazione
* Via dei Fori Imperiali
* Via Sacra
* Via Veneto

Parks, gardens
and zoos|

* Bioparco
* Villa Ada
* Villa Borghese gardens
* Villa Doria Pamphili
* Villa Medici
* Villa Torlonia
* Parco degli Acquedotti

Museums and
art galleries|

* Boncompagni Ludovisi Decorative Art Museum
* Capitoline Museums
* Casa di Goethe
* Galleria Borghese
* Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna
* Galleria Doria Pamphilj
* Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica
* Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna
* Giorgio de Chirico House Museum
* Galleria Spada
* Jewish Museum of Rome
* Keats–Shelley Memorial House
* MAXXI
* Museo Archeologico Ostiense
* Museo Barracco di Scultura Antica
* Museo Civico di Zoologia
* Museo delle anime del Purgatorio
* Museo delle Mura
* Museo di Roma
* Museo di Roma in Trastevere
* Museo nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia
* Museo Nazionale Etrusco
* Museo Nazionale Romano
* Museo Storico Nazionale dell'Arte Sanitaria
* Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
* Museum of Roman Civilization
* Museum of the Ara Pacis
* Museum of the Liberation of Rome
* National Museum of Oriental Art
* Palazzo Colonna
* Palazzo delle Esposizioni
* Pigorini National Museum
* Porta San Paolo Railway Museum
* Santa Cecilia Musical Instruments Museum
* Venanzo Crocetti Museum

Art|

* Apollo Belvedere
* Augustus of Prima Porta
* Colossus of Constantine
* La Bocca della Verità
* Laocoön and His Sons
* Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus
* Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
* Pietà
* Portonaccio sarcophagus
* Raphael Rooms
* Sistine Chapel ceiling
* Velletri Sarcophagus

Landscape|

| Seven Hills|

* Aventine
* Caelian
* Capitoline
* Esquiline
* Palatine
* Quirinal
* Viminal

|

* Tiber Island
* Monte Testaccio

Metropolitan City
of Rome Capital|

* Appian Way Regional Park
* Capo di Bove
* Castello Orsini-Odescalchi
* Frascati
* Hadrian's Villa
* Ostia Antica
* Villa Aldobrandini
* Villa d'Este
* Villa Farnese

Events and traditions|

* Festa della Repubblica
* Rome Quadriennale
* Rome Film Festival

Enclave|

* Vatican City

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* United States
* Israel

Other|

* IdRef

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