The Ara Pacis Museum

Visita delle sale interne

The Ara Pacis Museum belongs to the Museum System of Roma Capitale: it houses the ancient Ara Pacis Augustae and hosts temporary exhibitions.

The current museum was inaugurated in 2006, replacing the previous reliquary by the architect Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo, erected in the 1930s to protect the monument.

Work by Richard Meier, built in steel, travertine, glass and stucco, it is the first major architectural-urban intervention carried out in the historic center of Rome since Fascism: it is a structure with triumphal characters, with clear references to the Roman imperial style.

It stands raised and brings to light the Mausoleum of Augustus on the left of the architectural building, while large glass surfaces allow you to admire the Ara Pacis in uniform lighting conditions.

White is Richard Meier's trademark; the travertine slabs that decorate part of the building are instead the result of the changes made by the architect during construction (originally aluminum surfaces were planned).

After a re-examination of the project following the controversy that arose with some nostalgics of the old case, built in 1938 as part of the construction works of the Augusto Imperatore square directed by the architect Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo.

Meier's ambitious project intends to impose itself with energy in the heart of the city, becoming a nerve center and exchange center.

The complex, once the works have been completed, will in fact be equipped with a pedestrian path which, thanks to the construction of an underpass, will allow the museum structure to be welded to the Tiber.

Map: The Ara Pacis Museum