A Tourist in Rome - National Museum of Rome - Palazzo Altemps
| Location: | 41.90112, 12.47319 Two blocks north of Piazza Navona |
| Metro: | None, perhaps Spagna. An alternate is to take Bus 40 or 64 (get off at Piazza San Panteleo, 2 stops past Piazza Venezia, then walk 1 block north from there). |
| Time: | 90 minutes |
| Cost: | €10, includes admission to the other three buildings of the National Museum of Rome |
| Hours: | Tuesday - Sunday, 9:00 AM - 7:45 PM |
The Palazzo Altemps is one of the four buildings which are part of the National Museum of Rome, along with Terme di Diocleziano, Palazzo Massimo and Crypta Balbi. Palazzo Altemps houses Greek and Roman sculptures that belonged to various families of Roman nobility during the 16th and 17th centuries.
This isn't as large and doesn't have as many outstanding artifacts as Palazzo Massimo, and it's a long walk from the nearest metro station, but if you're at Piazza Navona with a bit of time to spare and a ticket to the National Museums of Rome which is not yet expired, it is worth a quick visit.
The 3rd from the last photo above and the last photo of the group below show the best known Roman marble Sarcophagus "The Ludovisi Battle" ca. 250 AD, from the late Imperial Period. Some of the close-ups show a mounted cavalry officer and a Cornicern player. It is also important in that the time frame in which it was carved (250 AD) the middle of the "Crisis of the 3rd Century" shows the dramatic evolution of Roman armour, weapons, helmets, etc. Many people don't realise that by the year 300 AD, a Roman soldier was nearly unrecognisable from just 200 years earlier and there were also visual changes from the Eastern to the Western Empire.
In my 2014 visit, I took the time to explore this museum in much more detail, and the following two groups of photos below show my photos from that visit:
See also:
