Type:

Luoghi della cultura; Ente/Istituzione

Category:

Archaeology museums

The birth of the Capitoline Museums dates back to 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV donated to the people of Rome a group of bronze statues of great symbolic value. The collections have a close relationship with the city of Rome, from which most of the works come. By solemnly giving the People of Rome some ancient bronze statues already stored at the Lateran (the She-Wolf, the Spinario, Camillo and the colossal head of Constantine, with the globe and hand) in 1471, Pope Sixtus IV constituted the first nucleus of the Capitoline Museums. Significant sculptural works (including, among others, the gilded bronze statue of Hercules from the Forum Boarium, marble fragments from the acrolith of Constantine of the Basilica of Maxentius, and the three panels in relief with the exploits of Marcus Aurelius, the so-called Capitoline Brutus) and important inscriptions (including the Fasti Capitolini, found in the Roman Forum) were placed in the Campidoglio in the middle of the 16th century. The two colossal statues of the Tiber and the Nile, currently outside the Senatorial Palace, were transferred in the same year from the Quirinale, while the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius was brought from the Lateran in 1538 at the behest of Pope Paul III. The exhibition itinerary has been significantly extended with the public opening of the Tabularium, connected to the other buildings through the Galleria di Congiunzione, the rehabilitation of Palazzo Caffarelli and the acquisition of Palazzo Clementino, already home to offices. The museum has been enriched by new sections: the Medagliere Capitolino in Palazzo Clementino and the Galleria Lapidaria in the Galleria di Congiunzione. Additional measures include the transformation of the Roman Garden into a large hall with windows and the reorganization of the Castellani Collection, the rooms of the Roman gardens and the section dedicated to the Roman temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.