The Palatine Museum ( Italian : Antiquarium del Palatino ) is a museum located on the Palatine Hill in Rome . Founded in the second half of the 19th century, it houses sculptures, fragments of frescoes, and archaeological material discovered on the hill.
31-669: Pietro Rosa created the first Palatine Museum in the late 19th century in the ground floor of the Farnese building on Palatine Hill. It housed sculptures excavated on Palatine Hill during the reign of Napoleon III . Rodolfo Lanciani razed the Farnese building in 1882 to allow a connection between the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill. At that time, Gherardo Ghirardini (1854–1920) cataloged its holdings and transferred them to
62-431: A few 3 m thick walls remain of 16 m height, half the original. It was built upon Nero 's earlier palace ( Domus Transitoria and Domus Aurea ) and followed some of its layout, as excavations have shown. On the northeastern side, the huge aula regia (royal hall) was the central and largest room, flanked by smaller reception rooms, the so-called Basilica and Lararium . The northern exterior of these three rooms had
93-613: A human presence on the Palatine from the Middle Palaeolithic and, continuing, into the Upper Palaeolithic. Traces of a village of huts dating back at least to the eighth century BC have also been found: they consist of vases and other impasto utensils, locally made. Among other things, the rooms also include the models of the huts, the contents of an infantile tomb dated to the beginning of the 7th century BC and
124-514: A hundred columns but by as many as could shoulder the gods and the sky if Atlas were let off. The Thunderer’s palace next door gapes at it and the gods rejoice that you are lodged in a like abode […]: so great extends the structure and the sweep of the far-flung hall, more expansive than that of an open plain, embracing much enclosed sky and lesser only than its master. Although the remains are mainly of low walls today, they would have stretched upwards 30 metres (98 feet) from floor to ceiling, capped by
155-405: A lake-like pool in the centre of which was a unique octagonal island with a labyrinthine pattern of channels and with fountains, all veneered in precious marble. The columns around the peristyle were of yellow Numidian marble , and supported an elaborate sculpted entablature beneath the roof. The cenatio or Banquet Hall is on the southwest side of the peristyle and is the 2nd largest room in
186-580: A panorama of imperial artistic tastes, from Augustus to Late Antiquity. Since 2016, the Antiquarium belongs to the newly established Colosseum Archaeological Park. The building comprises two floors, each consisting of four rooms. The ground floor is dedicated to the Palatine from its origins to the Republican era, while the first floor is dedicated to works from the imperial era. The rooms from I to III contain stone objects (room I), which attest to
217-871: A part of the sculptures from here that were in the Museum of the Baths, which in the meantime became the National Roman Museum, and exhibited them in a building built starting from 1868 for the Visitation nuns above the structures belonging to the ancient imperial palace of Diocletian , where the Domus Flavia and the Domus Augustana joined. The collections were moved again during the Second World Warfor security reasons, becoming
248-513: A pitched roof whose 26 m-long (85 ft) beams, probably from Lebanon, must have been concealed beneath a coffered ceiling. The walls were covered in exotic marble veneer and inset with eight niches which held colossal statues, interspersed with purple Phrygian marble columns and capped by an elaborately carved frieze . Two huge statues of metallic-green Bekhen stone (an especially prized sandstone from Egypt) representing Hercules and Bacchus were found in situ during excavations in
279-424: A portico that continued from the west side and which formed the main entrance to the palace facing those coming up on the road from the forum. This was an enormous rectangular hall used as an audience chamber, to host important receptions and embassies. An apse is built into the short south wall, where the emperor would have been seated to hold his audiences; on either side of the apse are doorways opening right onto
310-589: A sportula was promised, but you have set before us a splendid supper. The cenatio is built upon two earlier versions both built by Nero as part of his palace, dating from before (the Domus Transitoria ) and after (the Domus Aurea ) the Great Fire of Rome in 64, similar in layout to the upper floor, and which are mostly still intact under the later floor. Also the exquisite marble floors of
341-530: A wall that allows the reconstruction of the stratigraphy of hut A, i.e. the various discoveries ordered from the most recent to the most ancient, following the order in which they were found. In room IV the works of the Archaic and Republican periods are exhibited. Among them is an altar from the Silla period dedicated to "a god or a goddess", a vague formulation found elsewhere and which is probably destined to hide
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#1732772863492372-587: Is considered that it was a representation for the purpose of derision against a Christian accused of practicing onolatry , that is to say the adoration of a donkey, the Onocoete, a belief also reported by Tertullian . Room IX is a gallery that groups Roman copies of Greek statues, coming from the imperial palaces of the Palatine. Pietro Rosa Pietro Rosa (November 10, 1810 in Rome – August 15, 1891 in Rome)
403-514: Is part of the vast Palace of Domitian on the Palatine Hill in Rome . It was completed in 92 AD by Emperor Titus Flavius Domitianus , and attributed to his master architect, Rabirius . The term Domus Flavia is a modern name for the northwestern section of the Palace where the bulk of the large "public" rooms for official business, entertaining and ceremony are concentrated. Domitian
434-585: Is reported to have been the feast at the triumph over the giants, and glorious as was to all the gods that night on which the kind father sat at table with the inferior deities, and the Fauns were permitted to ask wine from Jupiter (i.e. Domitian); so grand are the festivals that celebrate your victories, O Caesar; and our joys enliven the gods themselves. All the knights, the people, and the senate, feast with you, and Rome partakes of ambrosial repasts with her ruler. You promised much; but how much more have you given! Only
465-737: The Aula Isiaca has been excavated, a room with frescoes of about 30 BC and probably once part of the Domus Augusti . This was in turn built over by Nero 's Domus Transitoria . Misnamed by 18th century excavators as a shrine for the Lares (household gods), it was more likely a room for the Praetorian Guard since it is immediately east of the Clivus Palatinus , where visitors to the palace would have arrived. Behind
496-619: The Battle of Actium . Some antefixes and some bas-relief plaques testify to the practice of the art of terracotta, inherited from the Etruscans . A fresco, unearthed in 1950 among the excavations of the Scalae Caci , depicts Apollo crowned with laurel, seated on a throne, with the citarain hand, near the omphalos . In room VI there are paintings and decorations in opus sectile from the Domus Transitoria , built by Nero and then covered by
527-649: The Domus Flavia . Rooms VII and VIII group together works from the Julio-Claudian age up to the Tetrarchy . Among them there are several portraits, of which the main ones are those of Nero, Agrippina Minore, Antonino Pio, Adriano, and Marco Aurelio. There is also the famous Alexamenos graffito , discovered in the Paedagogium in 1857, transferred first to the Kircherian Museum and then to
558-510: The National Roman Museum , before being finally returned to the Antiquarium of the Palatine in 1946. The drawing, coarse in its features, represents a figure with the head of a crucified donkey and to his left another character with his arm raised. The two figures are separated by a Greek inscription which reads: "Alexamenus venerates [his] god". The work, dated to the third century AD, gave rise to multiple disputes. In general, it
589-662: The "Lararium" was once a staircase providing access to the Domus Augustana below which parts of the earlier House of the Griffins have been excavated and from which exquisite decorations have been removed to the Palatine Museum . The main entrance to the west led first into the Aula Ottagonale with elaborate triclinia on each side, and then into a huge peristyle garden almost completely occupied by
620-762: The 18th century; they became part of the Farnese Collection and are housed in the Archaeological Museum in Parma . So-called as its plan resembled a basilica in the forum or a later church, the Basilica is a long room with a central nave and a more private room where the Emperor may have held his council to take political and administrative decisions concerning the Empire. Beneath the Basilica
651-405: The Museum of the Baths of Diocletian (which became the National Roman Museum in 1889). In the 1930s, on the initiative of the archaeologist Alfonso Bartoli , director of excavations on the Palatine and discoverer of numerous objects on the site of the Domus Augustana, a new site was created, using the remaining parts of the demolished Villa Mills . Bartoli managed to bring back on the Palatine
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#1732772863492682-513: The Palace. Like the Aula Regia , it was extravagantly decorated, with several tiers of columns in exotic marbles and a frieze. From the cenatio guests could look out through large windows onto the peristyle lake and fountain or onto two courtyards at the sides with elaborate oval marble fountains surrounded by yellow Numidian marble columns. The centre of the southern wall of the hall has an apse surrounded by two passages which allow access to
713-585: The Palatine with the patronage of the French emperor Napoleon III . In 1865, Rosa excavated the concrete core of the podium of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus . He also edited the Carta topografica del Lazio , an archaeological plan that he designed between 1850 and 1870 on a scale of 1:20,000. The map, measuring 3.40 x 3.10m, charts the territory of Latium (modern Lazio ) and the archaeological remains there. The work
744-488: The library of the temple of Apollo . The floor of the hall is covered with marble dating from the early 4th century though the hypocaust beneath dates from the 120's ( Hadrian ). This heating system suggests that this hall served as a banqueting hall in the winter and has been identified with the Cenatio Iovis mentioned in ancient literary sources. Martial described a banquet given by Domitian there: Great as
775-606: The museum that is housed there. The Antiquarium therefore now exhibits only materials directly linked to the history of the Palatine. The reorganization of the Roman National Museum, following the 1981 law on the archaeological heritage of Rome, leads to the return of the sculptures that have been found to the Antiquarium. The museum was entirely reorganized under the aegis of the Special Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Rome to present
806-413: The object of a new conflict of attribution between the Antiquarium of the Palatine and the National Roman Museum. The latter wanted to keep the most beautiful works inside. The Ministry of Education, owner of both institutions, agreed with the Roman National Museum, justifying the choice with the fact that visitors to the Palatine are first of all interested in the places and, only in a very secondary way, in
837-657: The peristyle. On the north side the Aula opened on to a monumental portico with Carystian marble columns, overlooking the palace forecourt and from where the emperor received the salutatio , the traditional morning ceremony. The poet Statius , a contemporary of Domitian, described the splendour of the Flavian Palace, particularly the Aula Regia, in Silvae , IV, 2: Awesome and vast is the edifice, distinguished not by
868-510: The true name of the revered god from its enemies. There are also several antefixes in polychrome terracotta from various eras, representing Juno Sospita and, perhaps, Jupiter and Apollo. In room V, works from the time of Augustus are exhibited. In particular, there are an eclectic statue of Hermes, which refers to the Greek sculptors Lysippus and Polykleitos , and a statue of a victorious athlete in basalt, probably commissioned by Octavian after
899-590: Was an Italian architect and topographer. He studied the settlements of the ancient Roman countryside and carried out a systematic series of excavations on the Palatine Hill in Rome. One of Rosa's ancestors was Salvator Rosa (1615–1673); Pietro was an avid patriot for the defense of the city of Rome in 1849 during the Roman Republic . A student of Luigi Canina , Rosa was an avid scholar of Rome and Latium . From 1861 until 1870 he carried out his excavations on
930-474: Was completed only in certain areas, such as the Tyrrhenian coast, Tibur and Palestrina . Rosa was named archaeological superintendent at Rome by royal decree on March 26, 1871. In the following years he was inspector general of antiquities in the ministry of public instruction and he was made a senator on December 1, 1870. Domus Flavia The Flavian Palace , normally known as the Domus Flavia ,
961-497: Was the last of the Flavian dynasty , but the palace continued to be used by emperors with small modifications until the end of the empire. It is connected to the domestic wing to the southeast, the Domus Augustana , a name which in antiquity may have applied to the whole of the palace. The Domus Flavia is built mainly around a large peristyle courtyard which was surrounded by many elaborate rooms of impressive height, of which only