Rome, Museo nazionale della civiltà romana

Everyone has an innocent private sin, a guilty pleasure. For instance, if I visit Rome, I prefer Chinese food for dinner, and in the afternoon, I like McDonald’s for lunch. (I want to see things, so I don’t want to waste time; fast food is fine with me.) Another sin I must confess is that amongst the museums I like most is the Museo nazionale della civiltà romana, a museum that owns not a single real object. Everything is fake.

But there are a lot of fakes, and it is the best place to get acquainted with Roman civilization. If I have to guide a group, this is the best place to start, even better than the Capitol. In the first rooms, you will see objects that document the historical development of the Empire: there are casts of, for example, old inscriptions and statues, and there are models of all kinds of buildings. There is also a large model of Rome in the archaic age, which is some kind of answer to the model for which the museum is deservedly famous: the large model of Rome in the age of Constantine. The other half of the collection is devoted to Roman culture: ancient medicine, farms, law, traders, libraries, and so on. This part was closed for a long time, but it was reopened a couple of year ago.

The reorganization has had some nice consequences. Many objects were added – you can see the full cast of the Column of Trajan again, although, this being Italy, today only half of it was illuminated. Explanatory signs have been translated into English. What remained the same is the team of nice people.

Yes, I like that place, and if you visit Rome, you must not be discouraged by the fact that it is a bit outside the center. See it as an opportunity to see some modern architecture, and try to ‘decode’ the structure of the museum itself. Look, for instance, at Italy’s borders on one of the maps, and notice that Dalmatia has become part of the country. The explanation is that the museum dates back to the Fascist years, when “Italia Irredenta” was still an important political issue. This map was meant to give people an idea of what Italy ought to be. In fact, the entire museum was an adhortation to Italy to become what it had once been – but that does not mean that you shouldn’t visit the Museo nazionale della civiltà romana.

This museum was visited in a/o 1991, 1999, 2000, 2009.

44 pictures related to this museum

Adoration of the Magi	Ankara, temple of Augustus, model	Aspendus, Theater, Model	Aquileia, Founding inscription (cast)
Rome, Circus Maximus, Model, Arch of Titus	Rome, Tomb of Eurysaces, model	Rome, Baths of Caracalla, Model	Rome, Forum Romanum, Lacus Curtius, Relief of Curtius' self-sacrifice
Timgad, Market of Sergius, ruin (model)	Tillibari, Inscription	La Turbie, Tropaeum Augusti, Model	Valle Guidino, Dedication to Jupiter for the victory of Verginius Rufus
Rome, Porta Capena, Dedication to Mars by Claudius Marcellus (cast)	Rome, Forum Romanum, Arch of Severus, Relief east left, model: Fight for Nisibis	Rome, Mausoleum of Augustus, Model (below) and the Field of Mars	Cleitor, Relief with portrait of Polybius (cast)
Este, Tombstone of a veteran of the Eleventh Legion, mentioning the battle of Actium	Timgad, Library (model)	Rome, Porta Maggiore, Model	Lepcis Magna, Arch of Trajan, model
Carthage, Mosaic of three musicians (copy)	Model of Archaic Rome	Orange, Arch, model	Como, Pliny's inscription (copy)
Model of Caesar's bridge across the Rhine	Split, Diocletian's palace, model	Timgad, Arch of Trajan (model)	Harran on the Arch of Septimius Severus
Lepcis Magna, Macellum, model of a tholos	Rome, Forum Romanum, Arch of Severus, Relief west right, model: Capture of Ctesiphon	Rome, Forum Romanum, Rostra, Columna rostrata, reconstruction	Rome, Septizodium (model)
Ravenna, Relief of a shipbuilder (cast)	Milan, St Ambrogio, Pliny's inscription (reconstruction)	Hierapytna, Hadrian (cast)	The Capestrano Warrior
Timgad, Market of Sergius, reconstruction (model)	Rome, Forum Romanum, Arch of Severus, Relief east right, model: Surrender of Edessa	Rome, Forum Romanum, Arch of Severus, Relief west left, model: Surrender of Seleucia	Rome, Circus of Maxentius, Model
Köln-Deutz, Castle, Model	Lepcis Magna, Hadrianic Baths and Palaestra, model	Rome, Forum Romanum, Arch of Severus, Relief west right, model: Capture of Ctesiphon, Detail	Rome, Ludus Maximus, Model