Centrale Montemartini
_(34321364485).jpg) Centrale Montemartini, exterior view of the machine room |
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| place | Rome |
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Ancient sculpture collection
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| opening | 1997 |
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The Centrale Montemartini , located on via Ostiense in Rome , is one of Rome's municipal museums. Against an industrial archaeological backdrop, it houses around 400 Roman statues as well as grave inscriptions and mosaics that were previously exhibited in the Capitoline Museums or stored in the city's large depots.
The power station
The Montemartini power station was inaugurated on June 30, 1912 during the tenure of Mayor Ernesto Nathan . Operated by the then Azienda elettrica municipale (municipal electricity company, today Acea ), it was the first public facility in Rome to generate electricity. It was named after the economist Giovanni Montemartini (* 1867 in Montù Beccaria ; † 1913 in Rome), a theorist of the localization of companies relevant for the common good and head of the Roman city administration, who died in 1913 during a meeting of the Roman city council.
The plant was built in the vicinity of the Testaccio district on a site immediately in front of the city walls, which the city council had planned for the settlement of industries because of the proximity of the Tiber , the railway and the road to Ostia . In 1910 the wholesale markets and a gasworks had been settled in the area (the latter had been on an area where parts of the Circus Maximus were later excavated), and there were also industrial and craft businesses here.
In the 1930s the power station was nationalized by the fascist government and inaugurated a second time in 1933 by Benito Mussolini on the occasion of the renewal of his diesel engines. A further renovation was decided with a view to the world exhibition planned for 1942 , which should supply the power plant with electrical power. The work was interrupted by the Second World War and was not completed until 1952. They gave the power station its current appearance.
However, after 50 years of operation, the plant became obsolete and in 1963 electricity production ceased for good. In the following two decades, the buildings fell into disrepair, the machines were dismantled and the site was used for other purposes, until the Acea decided to restore the main building of the complex with the machine room and boiler room, and to put some of the machinery back in its original location ( among other things, a steam turbine from 1917, the large diesel engines) and the premises for corporate management and cultural purposes. The renovation saved a monument to the city's industrial heritage.
The museum
history
In 1997, the sculpture collection and some parts of the Palazzo dei Conservatori in the Capitoline Museums on the Capitol had to be closed to the public due to renovation work: during this time, the sculptures were given an initially temporary home in some rooms of the former power station. The coexistence of ancient works of art and modern industrial architecture was a great success. Therefore, in 2005, when the work in the Capitoline Museums was completed, the power plant was converted into a permanent museum as a branch of the Capitoline Museums.
collection
Most of the exhibits on display are the result of comparatively new acquisitions and come from excavations that were carried out in the ancient gardens of Rome after the unification of Italy. The structure of the exhibition shows the origin of the finds and is divided into three main areas:
- Roman Republic (religion and grave culture, beginnings of luxury in the private sphere, portrait art), in the “column room”;
- the monumental center of Rome (the area around the Circus Flaminius , Temple of Apollo Sosianus , Capitol Hill , the Area Sacra at Largo Argentina , Theater of Pompeius ) in the “machine room”;
- the gardens, the imperial residences and domus (Horti on the Esquiline , Horti Sallustiani , Horti Spei Veteris at the Porta Maggiore , the mosaic of Santa Bibiana ) in the "boiler room".
The scenery gains its charm from the juxtaposition of evidence from classical and industrial archeology, in which the machines of the power station serve as the background for the sculptures.
literature
- Bertoletti, Marina, Cima, Maddalena u. Emilia Talamo: Centrale Montemartini. Musei Capitolini . Milan: Mondadori Electa 2006.
Web links
- Homepage of the Museum Centrale Montemartini
- Giovanni Montemartini in the theory and practice of the common economy (PDF; 112 kB; Italian)
- Entry of the Centrale Montemartini at EuroMusées 2001 (Italian)
Coordinates: 41 ° 52 ' N , 12 ° 29' E