A Tour Of Romes Best Museums

They say the best museum in Rome is the city itself

. That may be so, but the phenomenal artistic masterpieces housed within some of the citys best galleries are certainly worthwhile as well. The city's best museums are easily accessible and located within a short distance of many hotels in central Rome.

A Maze of Museums

The open-air museum that is the city is filled with stunning architecture and ancient ruins that are a must see for all tourists. However, the citys museums and art galleries contain paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance and Baroque periods and are not to be missed when staying in hotels in central Rome.

Vatican Museums: Not too far from most of the hotels in central Rome are the Vatican Museums. They contain the famous art collections of Renaissance popes such as Julius II, Innocent VIII and Sixtus IV. (Pope Julius II founded the museums in the early 16th century.) On the visitor route through the Vatican Museums is the world-renowned Sistine Chapel. At just thirty-three years of age, Michelangelo was called upon by Pope Julius II to travel to the city and begin the painting. From 1508 until 1512, Michelangelo worked on the masterpiece and it is certainly one of his crowning achievements.

Capitoline Museums: The Capitoline Museums are a group of art and archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio on top of the Capitoline Hill and are easily accessible from most hotels in central Rome. The history of the museums can be traced to 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV donated a collection of important ancient bronzes to the people of the city and located them on Capitoline Hill. The three main buildings are Palazzo Senatorio, which was built in the 12th century and modified according to Michelangelos designs; Palazzo dei Conservatori, built in the mid-16th century and redesigned by Michelangelo with the first use of the giant order column design; and Palazzo Nuovo, built in the 17th century exactly like the Palazzo dei Conservatori, which is directly across from it.

Borghese Museum and Gallery: The Borghese Museum is divided into two sections. The ground floor displays sculptures by renowned artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. A large percentage of his life's work - starting with his early pieces such as Goat Amalthea with Infant Jupiter and Faun to his dynamic Apollo and Daphne and David is displayed here.

The main floor is mostly devoted to classical antiquities of the 1st through the 3rd centuries AD, as well as classic and neo-classical sculptures such as the Venus Victrix. Sicilian artist Mariano Rossi painted the first room, known as the Salone, with a foreshortening technique that makes it appear almost as though it is three-dimensional.

by: Roberta Stuart

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