Centrale Montemartini
This museum, an extension of the Capitoline Museums mainly devoted to Greek and Roman sculpture, is housed in the unusual setting of a former power station. It stands in a somewhat outlying district of Rome, but one that is well served by public transport.
Getting there: Metro line B – Garbatella station, then follow the signs for about 400 m. Bus 23, 769, 792. Stop near the museum.
Address: Via Ostiense 106
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 19:00. Closed on Mondays, 25 December, 1 January and 1 May.
Ticket prices: €7.50 full price. The price may change during temporary exhibitions.
Website: Official website of Centrale Montemartini
The Centrale, a mixed steam–diesel plant, takes the name of the engineer in charge of its construction. Inaugurated in 1912, it was closed in 1960. Nationalised, it was used in 1997 for an exhibition of certain works from the Capitoline Museums, then undergoing renovation. Given the success of that exhibition and of its setting, and after major works allowing the confrontation of 20th-century industrial modernism with the aesthetic of the Greco-Roman world, this new museum opened its doors in 2005.
The collections are arranged chronologically and thematically in several rooms accessible by lift. The ground floor is also used for temporary exhibitions, always of a high standard. The Hall of the Columns is dedicated to religious and funerary monuments of the Republican period. Note, for example, the superb sarcophagus of the end of the 2nd century carved with two winged Victories bearing a round shield. Below, a scene represents a panther and an Eros stealing a bunch of grapes from a cockerel.
Still on the ground floor, the train of Pius IX, with its overloaded aesthetic, stands a little apart in an adjoining room. The train comprises 3 carriages: that of the loggia for blessing the people, a throne room and a private room for the pope, and a chapel carriage.
The Machine Hall, grandiose, allows the display of monumental statues as well as the pediment of the Temple of Apollo Sosianus from the Imperial period. The pediment has as its theme the 9th labour of Hercules, accompanied by Theseus in a combat with the Amazons. At the centre is the statue of Athena.
The Boiler Hall receives works from the imperial gardens around Rome as well as the magnificent mosaic of the Horti Liciniani (the Licinian Gardens). The scene represents the capture of wild animals including bears and gazelles that would join the Roman amphitheatres for the venationes. The venationes stage combats between animals or against gladiators in settings representing their natural habitat.
Near the mosaic, a statue representing Marsyas tortured. In mythology, Marsyas is a satyr flayed alive on Apollo's orders for having challenged him in a musical contest!