MAXXI

History

In 1998, an international design competition for the design of the museum building was won by Zaha Hadid. Her submission included five separate structures, of which only one was completed. It was built on the site of a former military barracks, the Caserma Montello, incorporating parts of it.

The museum took more than ten years to build, and opened to the public in 2010. It received the Stirling Prize for architecture of the Royal Institute of British Architects in the same year.

The Guardian has called the MAXXI building "Hadid's finest built work to date" and "a masterpiece fit to sit alongside Rome's ancient wonders".

Description

MAXXI consists of two museums: "MAXXI Art" and "MAXXI Architecture". "MAXXI Architecture" represents Italy's first national museum of architecture, and is dedicated to modern and contemporary Italian and international architecture. The outdoor courtyard surrounding the museum provides a venue for large-scale works of art.

MAXXI L'Aquila

On 30 October 2020, a branch of the museum opened in L'Aquila, capital of the Regione Abruzzo. It is housed in the Palazzo Ardinghelli, an eighteenth-century palace that was severely damaged in the earthquake of 2009 and later restored by the Italian Ministry of cultural heritage and tourism, with additional funding from the Russian government.