Celio Archaeological Park and Museum, Capitoline Museums

A steady rain fell on Rome as I walked to my first destination of the morning, the Celio Archaeological Park and Museum. But there was no wind. So my umbrella and rain jacket kept all but my shoes and the lower portion of my plant legs dry.

Still raining, after Celio I visited the Capitoline Museums.

Before I get into that allow me to jump ahead a bit. (As if you have a choice.) It relates to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, which I visited yesterday morning so I think it best to get it out of the way first.

On my way between the Celio Archaeological Park and the Capitoline Museums, I passed two separate entrances to the Roman Forum. The first was not the one I was at yesterday. This one had more than the two ticket sellers of the one I used yesterday. The line to buy tickets there was much shorter and moved more quickly.

However, the line to get in once you had tickets looked horrendous. It filled the full width of a street that led solely to the site. The street climbs a gentle hill so the heads of the people at the front of the line were higher than those at the back, but I still couldn’t see how far away the head of the line was.

At the entrance I used yesterday I was able to walk in as soon as I bought my ticket.

That entrance was the second one I passed today. The line to buy tickets was even longer than it was yesterday. Those poor, soggy people had to spend all of that time standing in the rain today. Oy.

Celio Archaeological Park and Museum

The museum in the Celio Archaeological Park has its own name, the Museum of the Forma Urbis. But that’s too long to put in a title along with “Celio Archaeological Park,” which in fact should more accurately be “The Archaeological Park of the Celio.” Sorry about that.

You might be wondering why I chose to go to an archaeological park in the rain even if it does also have a museum to duck into. The reason is that the forecast called for rain for most of today. It’s supposed to clear tonight and then rain again during the day tomorrow, which is my last day here until I come back to catch my flight home. Rain during the day, but clear while I’m sleeping. I think the weather gods are upset about all of the tourists overrunning Rome.

The point is, if I was going to visit it during this trip, it was probably going to be in the rain.

I wanted to visit the Celio Archaeological Park and its Museum of the Forma Urbis because, despite my horrible memory, I was certain I hadn’t visited them on any of my previous trips. They’re new!

That is not to say the artifacts in them are new, of course. They are old. Very, very old. However, the park and museum opened less than three months before my visit.

The Cielo Archaeological Park is not large. It is an outdoor collection of various archaeological finds—mostly architectural elements, but there was also a row of small, simple, largely unadorned tombstones.

One of the architectural elements is a section of a stone coffered roof. To my untrained eye, it appeared to be in perfect condition. The designs on it did not seem to be eroded in the least.

The sign with the coffered roof did not date it. It simply said it was found in 1960 and “the slabs originally belonged to the ceiling of a portico in one of the great complexes of the central Campus Marius.” That sounds old to me. I don’t know how old, but old.

Here was what looked to me to be a perfectly preserved part of a stone coffered ceiling sitting out in the rain. I’m not a scientist or art historian, so maybe I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure erosion happens, even to stone. I wonder if it will continue to look in mint condition to future generations.

Museum of the Forma Urbis in Celio Archaeological Park

The Museum of Forma Urbis is dedicated to the Forma Urbis Romae, also known as the Severan Marble Plan. It was a giant plan of ancient Rome etched onto marble slabs. Those slabs were mounted onto the wall of a room in the Forum of Peace. The Severan Marble Plan was made between 203 and 211 CE. So, kind of old.

Unfortunately, not much of it remains. The story goes, in 1562 Cardinal Farnese found portions of the slabs while doing some digging. He recognized the plan of Rome etched on them. (Don’t ask me how.) He had the pieces delivered by cartload to the Palazzo Farnese where he tried to piece them together.

Today, only about one-tenth of the plan remains.

The Museum of the Forma Urbis displays some of those pieces embedded in the floor. They are placed such that they are correctly positioned relative to other pieces and the overall plan. Where there are adjacent pieces, they are displayed together correctly.

Because only ten percent of the plan exists, there are a few sections of fragments scattered at the appropriate points on the floor. Over those locations, the floor is clear glass. They haven’t yet figured out where some of the pieces they have on display fit in the plan’s jigsaw puzzle. They mounted those pieces on the wall.

It’s a small, but quite interesting museum, I’d say. And neither it nor the Cielo Archaeological Park it’s in were at all crowded today. There were a few other people in the museum, but I was the only person wandering the small park today. That’s a bonus for me in Rome.

Capitoline Museums

After leaving the Cielo Archaeological Park and the Museum of Forma Urbis, I strolled over to the Capitoline Museums. As is the case for most major attractions in Rome, there was a long line to buy tickets for the museum. It was not nearly as long as the one I stood in at the Roman Forum, but still long. Fortunately, much of the line was under a long portico in front of the museum. So, for the last part of the wait, I was out of the steady rain. There was another line after buying a ticket to then go inside, but that was entirely under the portico.

The Capitoline Museums spread over two buildings on either side of a pleasant square. They look like two completely separate structures. But they can’t be. The only entrance to the museum is in one of the buildings, but I exited out of the other building. At no time was I conscious of having walked from one building to the other.

I was shocked when I left and saw that I had come out of the other building. I have no idea how that happened. I think it was magic.

The museum is somewhat eclectic. One room has bold frescoes on all of the walls. (The buildings of the museum used to be palaces. I guess if you can afford a palace, you can afford that sort of thing.)

And there are other frescoes elsewhere in the museum. In addition to some paintings, sarcophagi, and other notable old bric-a-brac, there are also some famous Roman sculptures, including the Capitoline She-Wolf, which allegedly depicts Romulus and Remus suckling a she-wolf. Um, okay.

When I was there, the Capitoline Museums had a temporary exhibition on Fidia, or in English, Phidias. I paid to go into it.

I’m embarrassed to admit that, although I’d undoubtedly heard it before, I didn’t recall the name Fidia or even Phidias, at all. Nor did I realize that he was a famous sculptor. But apparently, he was known as the art director of the Parthenon in Athens. He created many of the sculptures there.

It’s ironic that I learned about Phidias in Rome, but possibly not when I was in Athens. I probably saw his name several times on the descriptive signage I read in the Parthenon. But, if so, in the intervening time between then and now every trace of it left my brain. As it no doubt will again in the coming days.

Lunch

Lunch today wasn’t anything to write about. It was just a so-so tuna and tomato panini and a glass of wine at the Capitoline Museums café. Considering it wasn’t anything to write about, please disregard the preceding sentence.

The afternoon activities are still to come. Stay tuned.