Museum of Roman Civilization
The Museum of the Roman Civilization is a museum in Rome (Esposizione Universale Roma district), devoted to the aspects of the Ancient Roman civilization.
History and General Introduction
It was designed by the architects Pietro Ascheri, D. Bernardini and Cesare Pascoletti (1939-1941). Its 59 sections illustrate the history of Roman civilization, from the origins to the 4th century, with models and reproductions, as well as original material. The premises are shared with a planetarium.
It houses, among other things:
a model of Archaic Rome (Room XVIII)
a famous scale model of ancient Rome in the age of Constantine I by Italo Gismondi (Room XXXVII-XXXVIII): derived from the Forma Urbis Romae map and integrated with archeological discoveries. This model is at a 1:250 scale and is made of plaster. The model was begun in 1935 and completed in 1971. This model is today the most important reference for any serious attempt of reconstruction of the Ancient Rome: it has been used for the "Rome Reborn 1.0" 3D Visualization Project (B. Frischer, Director, University of Virginia; D. Favro, Associate Director, UCLA; D. Abernathy, Director of 3D Modeling, University of Virginia; G. Guidi, Director of 3D Scanning, Politecnico di Milano). Gismondi's model can be seen also in a few shots of the Movie "Gladiator" by R. Scott.
examples of late imperial and early Christian art
a complete sequence of casts of the spiral reliefs round Trajan's Column, arranged in horizontal rows at ground level to facilitate reading.
a reconstructed Roman library based on that in the Villa Adriana at Tivoli
Structure of the Museum
There are three main different itineraries through the Rooms of the Museum:
The Historical sections
The Thematic sections
The Model of the Imperial Rome
The Historical Sections
Room V-VI: Roman legends and primitive culture - the origins of Rome
Room VII: The conquest of the Mediterranean
Room VIII: Caesar
Room IX: Augustus
Room X: Augustus’ family and the Julio-Claudian emperors
Room XI: The Flavians
Room XII: Trajan and Hadrian
Room XIII: The emperors from Antonius Pius to the Severans
Room XIV: The emperors from Macrinus to Justinian
Room XV: Christianity
Room XVI: The army
Room XVIII: Model of archaic Rome
The Thematic Sections
Room XXXVI: School
Room XXXIX: Living spaces
Room XLVI: Rights
Room XLVII: Libraries
Room XLVIII: Music
Room XLIX: Literature and science
Room L: Medicine and drugs
Room LI: Trajan’s Column
Room LII: Industry and craft
Room LIII: Agriculture, herding and land management
Room LIV: Hunting, fishing and food
Room LV: Commerce and economic life
Room LVI: Art of rome
The Model of Imperial Rome
Room XXXVII-XXXVIII: Model of Imperial Rome (in the age of Constantine I)
Museum of Roman Civilization | eTips Inc.
