History of the building

The palace was built on the site once occupied by the Villa Montalto-Peretti, named after Pope Sixtus V, who had been born Francesco Peretti. The present building was commissioned by Prince Massimiliano Massimo, so as to give a seat to the Jesuit Collegio Romano, originally within the convent of the church of Sant'Ignazio. In 1871, the Collegio had been ousted from the convent by the government which converted it into the Liceo Visconti, the first public secular high school of Italy. Erected between 1883 and 1887 by the architect Camillo Pistrucci in a neo-cinquecentesco style, it was one of the most prestigious schools of Rome until 1960. During World War II, it was partially used as a military hospital, but it then returned to scholastic functions until the 1960s, when the school was moved to a newer seat in the EUR quarter.

In 1981, when the palace was lying in a state of neglect, the Italian government acquired it for 19 billion lire and granted it to the National Roman Museum. Its restoration and adaptation began in 1983 and was completed in 1998. The palazzo eventually became the main seat of the museum as well as the headquarters of the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma (Agency of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities of Italy, in charge for the archaeological heritage of Rome). The museum houses the ancient art (sculpture, painting, mosaic work and goldsmith's craft from the Republican Age to the Late Antiquity) as well as the numismatic collection, housed in the Medagliere, i.e. the coin cabinet.

Ground floor and first floor

Altar of Romulus and Remus

A Seleucid prince as hero.

The ground floor features the notable bronze statues of the Boxer at Rest and the Athlete.

One room is devoted to the mummy that was found in 1964 on the Via Cassia, inside a richly decorated sarcophagus with several artefacts in amber and pieces of jewellery also on display. Sculptures of the period between the late Roman Republic and the early imperial period (2nd century BC to 1st century AD), include

• Tivoli General
• Tiber Apollo
• Tiber Dionysus
• Via Labicana Augustus
• Aphrodite of Menophantos
• Hermes Ludovisi from Anzio
• Torlonia Vase
• Sleeping Hermaphroditus
• Dionysus Sardanapalus
• Portonaccio sarcophagus

History of the building

An Apollo Citharoedus from the Palazzo Altemps.

Exterior view of the Palazzo Altemps.

Dionysus with a panther and satyr, from the Palazzo Altemps.

The building was designed in the 15th century by Melozzo da Forlì for Girolamo Riario, a relation of Pope Sixtus IV. There is still a fresco on one wall of the rooms in the palazzo that celebrates the wedding of Girolamo to Caterina Sforza in 1477, showing the silver plates and other wedding gifts given to the couple. When the Riario family began to decline after the death of Pope Sixtus IV, the palazzo was sold to Cardinal Francesco Soderini of Volterra, who commissioned further refinements from the architects Sangallo the Elder and Baldassarre Peruzzi.

When the Soderini family fell on hard times, he in turn sold it in 1568 to the Austrian-born cardinal Mark Sittich von Hohenems Altemps, the son of the sister of Pope Pius IV. Cardinal Altemps commissioned the architect Martino Longhi to expand and improve the palazzo; it was Longhi who built the belvedere. Cardinal Altemps accumulated a large collection of books and ancient sculpture. Though his position as the second son in his family meant Marco Sittico Altemps became a cleric, he was not inclined to priesthood. His mistress bore him a son, Roberto, made Duke of Gallese. Roberto Altemps was executed for adultery in 1586 by Pope Sixtus V.

The Altemps family continued to mix in the circles of Italian nobility throughout the 17th century. Roberto's granddaughter Maria Cristina d'Altemps married Ippolito Lante Montefeltro della Rovere, Duke of Bomarzo.

The Palazzo Altemps became the property of the Holy See in the 19th century, and the building was used as a seminary for a short time. It was granted to the Italian state in 1982 and after 15 years of restoration, inaugurated as a museum in 1997.

Collections

The palazzo houses the museum's exhibits on the history of collecting (sculptures from Renaissance collections such as the Boncompagni-Ludovisi and Mattei collections, including the Ludovisi Ares, Ludovisi Throne, and the Suicide of a Gaul (from the same Pergamon group as the Dying Gaul) and the Egyptian collection (sculptures of eastern deities). The palace also includes the historic private theatre, at present used to house temporary exhibitions, and the church of Sant' Aniceto.

History of the building

In 1981, digging on a derelict site in the Campus Martius between the churches of Santa Caterina dei Funari and Santo Stanislao dei Polacchi, Daniel Manacorda and his team discovered the colonnaded quadriporticus of the Theatre of Lucius Cornelius Balbus, the nearby statio annonae and evidence of later, medieval occupation of the site. These are presented in this branch of the museum, inaugurated in 2001, which houses the archaeological remains and finds from that dig (including a stucco arch from the porticus).

Collections

As well as new material from the excavations, objects in this exhibition space come from

• the collections of the former Kircherian Museum
• the Gorga and Betti collections
• numismatic material from the Gnecchi collections and the collection of Victor Emmanuel III of Savoy
• collections from the Roman Forum, in particular a fresco and marble architrave from the late-1930s Fascist deconstruction of the medieval church of Sant'Adriano in the Curia senatus.
• Museum of the Palazzo Venezia
• the Capitoline Museums
• the communal Antiquarium of Rome
• frescoes removed in 1960 from the church of Santa Maria in Via Lata.

Cloister of Michelangelo

The cloister of the charterhouse of the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, this is often referred to as "Michelangelo's Cloister" as he was tasked by the Pope with transforming the Baths into a church and chapterhouse. However, it is more likely that Michelangelo just came up with the layout and that a pupil of his, Giacomo del Duca, was responsible for most of the actual architecture, at least in the initial phase of construction. The cloister was built only after Michelangelo's death in 1564. Construction began in 1565 but took at least until 1600. The upper floor was finished in 1676 and the central fountain dates to 1695.^[3]: 45

Inside the square of the cloister, a 16th-century garden features outdoor displays of altars and funerary sculpture and inscriptions. These notably include some colossal animal heads, several of which date from Antiquity and were found near Trajan's Column in 1586.^[3]: 47

Prehistory section

On the upper floor of the cloister, this exhibit shows the development of the culture of Latium from the Bronze Age (11th century BC) to the Orientalizing Period (10th to 6th century BC) by means of archaeological findings from the region around Rome.^[3]: 37

Small cloister

The small cloister of the charterhouse has been recently renovated. It occupies around a third of the area previously occupied by the natatio (swimming pool) of the Baths of Diocletian. It was originally built alongside the church. Construction began in the mid-16th century but continued beyond the 17th century. With a side length of 40 meters (half the size of Michelangelo's Cloister) it today features exhibits on the Arval Brethren and on the Secular Games. The late 16th-century travertine well in the centre was added during the recent renovation.^{[3]: 53–8}

Epigraphic section

Showing over 900 exhibits on inscriptions/writings, over three floors of a modern building, this collection houses over 10,000 inscriptions.^[3]: 15

Aule delle Olearie

These were the storage facilities created by Pope Clement XIII in some of the former halls of the Baths of Diocletian. These large halls (numbered I to XI), most of them without roof cover, have been part of the museum since 1911.^{[3]: 63–72}

Aula of Saint Isidore

A small square room built next to a granary known Annona in 1640. In 1754 it was converted into a chapel dedicated to Saint Isidore.^{[3]: 61–2}

Octagonal Aula

This was part of the central complex of the Baths of Diocletian. It was the last of the four halls next to the caldarium. It was converted into a grain store in 1575, and in 1764 became a storage facility for oil. The dome is still the original one. The hall served as an exhibition site in 1911 but was then turned into a cinema and, in 1928, into a planetarium.^{[3]: 73–4}

The hall was restored in 1991. It is devoted to sculptures found on baths sites in Rome.