Description
Palazzo Massimo alle Terme is the main seat of the National Roman Museum, a stone's throw from Termini station, in Rome. It gathers the best of ancient Roman art: portraits, statues, frescoes, mosaics and jewelry.
In March 1885, on the Quirinal, the archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani saw a seated bronze man emerge from the earth, “as if waking from a long sleep.” He said he had never felt such emotion. It was the Boxer at Rest.
The ground floor and first floor are devoted to statues and portraits, from the late Republican age to the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The second floor holds the decorations of luxury villas, which in Rome are fewer than at Pompeii but of the highest quality.
The real treasure is the painted garden from the Villa of Livia, at Prima Porta: fruit trees, flowers and birds on the walls of a room. Beside it are four reconstructed rooms from the Villa della Farnesina, from about 20 BC.
On the ground floor you can't miss the Augustus of Via Labicana, the emperor veiled as pontifex maximus. Then the Maiden of Anzio, the Sleeping Hermaphrodite and the Lancellotti Discobolus, a Roman copy of Myron's famous athlete.
Just past the ticket office is a colossal seated female statue in colored marbles, from the Aventine. Restored as Minerva, according to recent studies it depicted Cybele, the Magna Mater, an Anatolian deity whose cult reached Rome during the Second Punic War.
In the portrait galleries the anonymous faces are arranged like a gallery of ancestors, as happened in Roman houses. Among the best known is the general from Tivoli, of the first century BC: a stern face, faithful to the realism of the Italic tradition.
The palace, in neo-sixteenth-century style, was built between 1883 and 1886 to a design by Camillo Pistrucci, at the wish of a Jesuit of the Massimo family, as a college. It took the place of a sixteenth-century villa, which disappeared with the building of the station.
The State bought it in 1981. The ground floor opened in 1995, the rest in 1998. In the basement is a large coin cabinet, with ancient, medieval and modern coins, including the collection of Victor Emmanuel III, and a collection of Roman jewelry.
Here you also find the Grottarossa mummy, a girl of about eight who lived in the second century AD. It is the only mummy of the Roman period ever found, discovered in a sarcophagus on Via Cassia with her grave goods.
Don't miss
• The Boxer at Rest.
• The painted garden from the Villa of Livia.
• The Augustus of Via Labicana.
• The Grottarossa mummy.
Did you know?
• In the basement are displayed the imperial insignia found in 2005 at the foot of the Palatine, hidden in a leather bag.
• A gilded bronze portrait shows Alexander the Great, recognizable by the tuft of hair on his forehead.
In March 1885, on the Quirinal, the archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani saw a seated bronze man emerge from the earth, “as if waking from a long sleep.” He said he had never felt such emotion. It was the Boxer at Rest.
The ground floor and first floor are devoted to statues and portraits, from the late Republican age to the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The second floor holds the decorations of luxury villas, which in Rome are fewer than at Pompeii but of the highest quality.
The real treasure is the painted garden from the Villa of Livia, at Prima Porta: fruit trees, flowers and birds on the walls of a room. Beside it are four reconstructed rooms from the Villa della Farnesina, from about 20 BC.
On the ground floor you can't miss the Augustus of Via Labicana, the emperor veiled as pontifex maximus. Then the Maiden of Anzio, the Sleeping Hermaphrodite and the Lancellotti Discobolus, a Roman copy of Myron's famous athlete.
Just past the ticket office is a colossal seated female statue in colored marbles, from the Aventine. Restored as Minerva, according to recent studies it depicted Cybele, the Magna Mater, an Anatolian deity whose cult reached Rome during the Second Punic War.
In the portrait galleries the anonymous faces are arranged like a gallery of ancestors, as happened in Roman houses. Among the best known is the general from Tivoli, of the first century BC: a stern face, faithful to the realism of the Italic tradition.
The palace, in neo-sixteenth-century style, was built between 1883 and 1886 to a design by Camillo Pistrucci, at the wish of a Jesuit of the Massimo family, as a college. It took the place of a sixteenth-century villa, which disappeared with the building of the station.
The State bought it in 1981. The ground floor opened in 1995, the rest in 1998. In the basement is a large coin cabinet, with ancient, medieval and modern coins, including the collection of Victor Emmanuel III, and a collection of Roman jewelry.
Here you also find the Grottarossa mummy, a girl of about eight who lived in the second century AD. It is the only mummy of the Roman period ever found, discovered in a sarcophagus on Via Cassia with her grave goods.
Don't miss
• The Boxer at Rest.
• The painted garden from the Villa of Livia.
• The Augustus of Via Labicana.
• The Grottarossa mummy.
Did you know?
• In the basement are displayed the imperial insignia found in 2005 at the foot of the Palatine, hidden in a leather bag.
• A gilded bronze portrait shows Alexander the Great, recognizable by the tuft of hair on his forehead.