Take one power station, degrease it and install all those ancient Roman statues you have sitting in warehouses dotting the Eternal city, using the deep gray of the turbines, diesel engines and the colossal steam boiler inside the plant as a background.
The juxtaposition is genius. Two industries, a couple of millennia apart. A statue museum that doesn’t dwell on the ancient persons represented in marble. No, “The statue is of Marcus Bulamitus, the forsaken son of a union between Beatrice Uno and the minor god of earlobe lust, carved after his death in the year 74. Yes, it will be on the test…”
Aesthetics are the thing. Yes, there are little placards, but you can ignore them with pleasure. Enjoy.
Here’s what the official tourism office of Rome says about the museum:
Some masterpieces of ancient sculpture, such as the cycle of statues that decorated the pediment of the temple of Apollo Sosiano, the colossal acrolith depicting the Goddess Fortune, coming from Largo Argentina, and the thoughtful figure of the muse Polimnia, are enhanced in such an atmosphere that evokes on the one hand the monumental grandeur of ancient Rome, and on the other a more recent past and the memory of one of the first Roman industrial environments.
What Does a Ticket Cost?
The options are numerous so I’ll reference the official site: tickets.
The opening hours are here.
Location Map of the Centrale Montemartini Museum
How to Get to the Centrale Montemartini Museum
As you can see from the location map, the museum is a bit out of the center. We walked from the southern part of Trastevere and used the Uber App to get a taxi from the exit of the museum —> Using the Uber App in Rome.
Is There a Restaurant Close By?
Yes. We ate at the Mix Risto Bottega Sarda, just outside the entrance to the museum. The food was quite good—although you’d be advised to go to the island of Sardinia to get the best. There are many other restaurants along the Via Ostiense, including a sushi joint very near the museum.
One Last Picture: The Roman Statue, Steampunk Background
