Museum of ancient sculpture · 1902 · Rome, Italy

Giovanni Barracco Museum of Ancient Sculpture – Virtual Tour 360°

The Museo di Scultura Antica Giovanni Barracco is a small but exceptional museum in Rome housing the antiquities collection assembled by politician and art collector Giovanni Barracco. Donated to the city of Rome in 1902 and displayed since 1948 in the Renaissance-era Palazzetto Le Roy, the museum presents Egyptian, Assyrian, Cypriot, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman sculpture in a compact and intimate setting — and is now accessible through a 360° virtual tour.

At a glance

Type: Museum of ancient sculpture
Period: Collection assembled late 19th century; donated to Rome 1902; current location since 1948
Style: Renaissance Palazzetto (Palazzetto Le Roy, 16th century); underground archaeological extension
Location: Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 168, Rome, Italy
Coordinates: 41.8967° N, 12.4726° E

Overview

The Museo di Scultura Antica Giovanni Barracco displays the antiquities collection of Giovanni Barracco, a Calabrian nobleman and member of the Italian Parliament who spent decades assembling one of the finest private collections of ancient sculpture in Italy. After amassing the collection throughout his travels and political career, Barracco donated the works to the city of Rome in 1902. Since 1948, the collection has been housed in the Palazzetto Le Roy, a small Renaissance building on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, which has been expanded underground with archaeological excavations revealing an ancient Roman domus beneath the foundations.

History

Giovanni Barracco (1829–1914) was born in Crotone, Calabria, and pursued a parliamentary career alongside his passion for antiquities, travelling extensively across Europe and the eastern Mediterranean to acquire pieces. His collection spans Egyptian sculpture from the Old Kingdom, Assyrian relief fragments, Cypriot statuary, Archaic and Classical Greek originals, and Roman copies. In 1902 he donated the entire collection to Rome on the condition that it be kept together as a unified museum. Originally housed in a purpose-built small museum on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, the collection was moved in 1948 to the adjacent Palazzetto Le Roy after the original building was demolished during the construction of Via della Conciliazione.

What you see

The museum occupies several rooms of the Palazzetto Le Roy, a Renaissance structure with an elegant exterior loggia. The galleries present around 400 objects arranged by civilisation and period, from New Kingdom Egyptian reliefs to Hellenistic and Roman marbles. Highlights include an Egyptian granite head of a priest, Assyrian palace reliefs, a Cypriot limestone kouros, and several Attic votive pieces. The underground level, accessible within the museum, exposes the remains of an ancient Roman domus discovered during 20th-century excavations and integrated into the museum circuit. Admission is free as part of the Sistema Musei di Roma Capitale.

Cultural significance

The Barracco Museum represents one of Rome’s hidden cultural treasures, offering a panorama of ancient Mediterranean civilisations in a format that rewards slow, attentive looking rather than the overwhelming scale of the city’s major museums. Its integration of Renaissance architecture, Roman archaeological remains, and a multi-civilisation antiquities collection in a single small building is unique among Roman civic museums. The 360° virtual tour extends the museum’s reach to international audiences and researchers who cannot visit in person.

Practical information

Address: Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 168, 00186 Roma RM, Italy. The museum is free of charge. Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00–18:00; closed Mondays. Check the official Musei in Comune Roma website (museiincomuneroma.it) for current opening times and any closures. The 360° virtual tour is accessible through the museum’s online presence.

Getting there

The museum is located on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II in central Rome, a short walk from Campo de’ Fiori and Piazza Navona. Nearest public transport: tram line 8 (Largo di Torre Argentina stop); bus lines 40, 46, 62, 64 (Vittorio Emanuele stop). No dedicated metro stop nearby; the area is best reached on foot from the historic centre or by tram from Trastevere.

Sources & resources

Historical events at this place (2)

The Giovanni Barracco Museum of Ancient Sculpture is part of the Museums system in the Municipality of Rome and is located in the Palazzo della&nbsp;Farnesina ai Baullari. It collects various works of classical and Near Eastern art, donated to the Municipality by Baron Giovanni Barracco in 1904.



Having no direct heirs (he had never married and had no children), Giovanni Barracco made the decision to donate his collection to the city of Rome. For this he was awarded the honorary citizenship of Rome.



An area was also made available to him to make it an adequate museum, in Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, in front of the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini. The museum, called the Museum of Ancient Sculpture, was designed by Gaetano Koch, with whom Barracco had already collaborated when, as Quaestor of the Senate of the Kingdom, he had presided over the renovation and adaptation of Palazzo Madama.



Giovanni Barracco personally followed the design phase and the construction of the Museum of Ancient Sculpture, which looked like a classical temple.



At Barracco&#39;s request, the Museum was equipped with a heating system (the first in Italy), with large windows for correct lighting of the works on display, and with rotating bases to allow the all-round view of some sculptures. Giovanni Barracco&#39;s personal library was also linked to the museum.



In the last years of his life, Giovanni Barracco moved his home in Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, at the Museum, and continued to enrich the collection. He left, in his will, indications to his heirs to buy some publications for the library of the Museum, of which Ludwig Pollak would remain Curator until his deportation by the Gestapo in 1943.



The Museum of Ancient Sculpture was demolished in 1938 on the occasion of the refurbishment works of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II following the construction of the Vittorio Emanuele II Bridge. The collection was transferred to the Osteria dell&#39;Orso and subsequently to the warehouses of the Capitoline Museums.



In 1948 the Museum was rearranged in the Palazzo della Farnesina ai Baullari in Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, specially made available by the Municipality of Rome.



Located in the basement of the small but precious Barracco Museum, about 4 meters below the current road level, the so-called Roman House (DOMUS ROMANA) was discovered by chance in 1899 during the partial demolition of the Renaissance building which since 1948 has housed the Museum, made necessary to allow the opening of the new road axis of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.



The structures and archaeological evidence preserved include a large portion of a porticoed courtyard with columns, floors in precious marble, numerous furnishing elements referable to fountains or basins and an extraordinary weight table, or a counter used to verify the measures of capacity used. for the goods.



The walls were decorated with frescoes, with aquatic and terrestrial subjects, detached in the seventies and currently preserved in the museum.



Barracco Museum, is of great archaeological importance, especially due to their location in the heart of the topography of the ancient Campo Marzio and its sumptuous public buildings, the subject of many studies.



Among the most interesting and best preserved pieces of the collection you can admire the Egyptian sphinxes, the reliefs and the admirable water hourglass, the Sumerian foundation nails, the Cypriot statue of the god Melqart, the sculptures of the classical age, the red-figure pottery .

https://culturalheritageonline.com/places/giovanni-barracco-museum-of-ancient-sculpture-virtual-tour-360-l4405/

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