January 1, 2014 Back to European Museums-Rome

One of the joys of our trip in October was the huge span of time that the art covered, from ancient to very contemporary.  Halfway through our travels I thought about how wonderful it would have been to plan a tour that started with the Romans and went in chronological order to the present day but that wasn’t how our travels happened.  So now we were back in the past.

Our friendly and very knowledgeable Roman guide, Laura, who had shepherded us through the Vatican and Sistine Chapel and happily accommodated our wish to see as many Caravaggios as possible, suggested that we spend a couple hours at a museum near our hotel and avoid the mass austerity demonstration that was planned for the following day, a very god plan!

The Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, whose former incarnations included service as a Jesuit seminary and a WWII military hospital, was indeed worth the visit.  Laura had recommended the museum because of my husband’s interest in ancient coins.  Those were beautifully lit, labeled and displayed in a giant vault in the basement. 

Also housed there was the mummy and sarcophagus of a young girl found on the Via Cassia in 1964.  Displayed near her were several relics from her life.

Gold hair ornament

Upstairs in the museum were frescoes and mosaics from several locations and excavations, including the villa of Livia, wife of Augustus, pavements from residential buildings in Rome and a villa at Castel di Guido.  Some of the frescoes were only faintly visible, faded with time.  This one, however, clearly shows the beauty of delicate line and drawing.

And a couple of mosaics.

This one was remarkable for the size of the stones, the ones in the center of the face barely a couple of millimeters across.