Montemartini Art Story | Location | Opening Hours Tickets | Authorisations
The Centrale Montemartini, the collections of the Capitoline Museums in Rome, Italy
From electricity to art
Statue of Antinous The Centrale Montemartini is named after Professor Giovanni Montemartini, who was in charge of the project to build this power station in 1909.
This power station was initially intended to be a steam power station, but it was built as a diesel-powered power station, albeit coupled with a steam turbine.
With the help of the Castel Madama hydroelectric power station, it was intended to light half of Rome's streets and squares.
Seated Girl In the 1930s, this power station produced 23,400 kilowatts.
However, the modernisation of the new power stations that followed put an end to the career of this outdated, non-automated power station.
Its maintenance costs were too high and it was no longer profitable to keep it running.
The Montemartini Power Station was therefore shut down and its buildings closed.
Restoration work was undertaken between 1989 and 1990 to transform this industrial building, with its intact machinery, into a multimedia centre capable of hosting conferences, shows and exhibitions.
All this in an environment of machines, reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin's film “Modern Times” or Fritz Lang's “Metropolis”.
Transition from Modern to Antique
Scene of a Wild Animal Hunt As the Capitoline Museums' collections had become too large to be displayed in their entirety within the two palace museums, a new additional space had to be found for them.
It was therefore decided to transfer part of these ancient collections to the Centrale Montemartini.
The idea was to combine ancient and modern in a single location: to place these white marble statues in a black metal setting that would showcase them in a particularly original way.
Statue of Agrippina
Montemartini Museum: Sarcophagi, Bas-Reliefs and Mosaics
Sarcophagi and funerary monuments from the first century BC are displayed on the ground floor, including the famous “Togato Barberin”.Some mosaics also dating from the first century BC are of impressive artistic quality, both in terms of colour and design.
They depict scenes from everyday life, wild animal hunts, fish and shellfish.
Montemartini: Hundreds of statues and busts
Whether in the engine room, the column room or the boiler room, the marble sculptures and busts on display are particularly beautiful.
The Muse Polymnia Among these are:
- A fragment of the bust of Antinous, a young slave of extreme beauty, the protégé of Emperor Hadrian,
- The Venus Esquilina,
- A statue of Hercules,
- A superb statue of a seated young girl.
Also in the boiler room is a moving statue of a muse.
It is thought to represent Polyhymnia, wrapped in her toga, lost in thought, gazing into the distance and holding a papyrus scroll, symbol of her art.
In the same room, you can also see an impressive polychrome mosaic depicting a scene of wild animal hunting. It is a very large mosaic dating from the 4th century, measuring 15 metres by 9 metres!
Pope Pius IX's Train
Pope Pius IX's train Finally, and even if its presence here is not entirely clear, an entire room is dedicated to Pius IX's train, and not just any train!
The carriages on display show us the ancestor of the “Popemobile”.
One of the carriages, called the “Loggia of Blessings”, is open with a balustrade behind which Pope Pius IX could bless the crowds.
Another carriage was fitted out as a Chapel, while another, as was fitting, served as the “Throne Room” for audiences.
Montemartini Art Story | Location | Opening Hours Tickets | Authorisations
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