- Free 1st Sunday
Photo: Jensens, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
At a glance
- Type
- Museum
- Protection
- Italian national heritage
- Coordinates
- 41°53′28″ N, 12°29′17″ E
- Address
- Via di San Gregorio, 30, 00186 Roma RM
History and description
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.
History
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 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 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 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 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 a panorama of imperial artistic tastes, from Augustus to Late Antiquity.
Since 2016, the Antiquarium belongs to the newly established Colosseum Archaeological Park.
Collections
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 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 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 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 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 the Domus Flavia. …
Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Full article: «Palatine Museum».
Photos
Getting there
Roma TerminiTrain, nearest
1.6 km as the crow flies
Palatine MuseumVia di San Gregorio, 30, 00186 Roma RM
Aeroporto di Roma-Ciampino13.4 km
Distances are as the crow flies, not walking or driving.
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Nearby
See on the mapMore museums in Lazio
- Free 1st Sunday
- Free 1st Sunday
- Free 1st Sunday
Frequently asked questions
Where is Palatine Museum?
Palatine Museum is in Rome, in the province of Roma (Lazio), Italy. Address: Via di San Gregorio, 30, 00186 Roma RM. GPS coordinates: 41.89116, 12.48797.
What are the opening hours of Palatine Museum?
According to OpenStreetMap the opening hours are: 08:30-(sunset-01:00). Always check the official website before your visit.
How much does it cost to visit Palatine Museum?
There is an admission charge. Up-to-date prices are on the official website.
What else is there to see near Palatine Museum?
Nearby you’ll find: Temple of Isis (0 m away), Porticus Margaritaria (0 m away), Horrea Piperataria (100 m away).
Sources and licences
Text. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Data. Wikidata (CC0); opening hours and contacts OpenStreetMap (ODbL).
Photos. Wikimedia Commons, author and licence on every image.
Credits for the 9 photos
- Museo Palatino Roma — Jensens, Public domain
- Antiquarium del Palatino pic-045 — AlfvanBeem, CC0
- Antiquarium del Palatino, Altare al dio Ignoto pic2-001 — AlfvanBeem, CC0
- Antiquarium del Palatino, Capitello coriazio pic1 — Alf van Beem, CC0
- Antiquarium del Palatino, Cippom inscritto — Alf van Beem, CC0
- Roma - Antiquarium del Palatino - 2024-09-23 10-36-40 001 — BeshevI, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Roma - Antiquarium del Palatino - 2024-09-23 10-36-55 001 — BeshevI, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Roma - Antiquarium del Palatino - 2024-09-23 10-37-10 001 — BeshevI, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Ancient Structures inside the Museum (49350828971) — Jamie Heath, CC BY-SA 2.0
Updated 28 October 2026. All sources and licences