Ara Pacis

One of Rome's more controversial monuments is the Ara Pacis, Altar of Peace. It was commissioned by the Senate in celebration of Augustus, Rome's first emperor, and his accomplishments on the northern frontier from 16-13 BC. It was dedicated on January 30^th, 9 BC. It currently stands along the Tiber on the east side of Hadrian's mausoleum, but was originally on the other side of the mausoleum about five hundred yards southeast in the heart of the Campo Marzio, Field of Mars (Campus Martius in Latin). Over the centuries it became less important in the ever more Christian world and fell into disrepair and, eventually, was buried by silt from the Tiber floods that swept through this low-lying area each year.

By the Renaissance it had completely disappeared from sight and memory. Until one day in 1536 when the wealthy Peretti family was doing some construction on their palazzo that involved reinforcing the foundations. When they dug down they found a few pieces of the Ara Pacis, although they could not dig any more without compromising the integrity of their palace. It was forgotten about again for another three hundred years until new repairs were needed on the same palace, now owned by the Fiano family. This time around the full base of the altar was seen, but again they could do nothing to remove it without risking the collapse of the palace.

In 1903, when the significance of the altar was fully recognized, the Roman Ministry of Public Education decided to explore its removal further. They managed to remove about half of the structure before they had to stop excavations because they were digging in an area that was essentially a swamp with water constantly flooding in. Finally in 1937 under Mussolini and on the two thousandth anniversary of the birth of Augustus it was decided that the entire altar had to be recovered. To do so Mussolini’s top engineers developed an ingenious refrigeration system that they used to freeze the incoming water and therefore prevented any more from coming in. This allowed archeologists to work in drier conditions and remove the entire monument. On September 23^rd 1938, Augustus' 2000th birthday, Mussolini inaugurated the altar in its newly constructed pavilion between the river and the mausoleum.

The altar was housed in a simple glass pavilion until it was decided light was damaging the monument and it needed more protection from the elements. Richard Meier was appointed (without a competition or even outside consultation) as the architect by then mayor Walter Veltroni, and completed the project in 2006. Many Romans hate the new design, saying it is just that, new, and out of place with the rest of the city. It does, however, allow the altar to be seen from the street very well, extends the Via di Ripetta a little farther, and protects the altar with specially coated UV protective glass.

There are rumors that the current mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, is trying to have the museum torn down as part of a new construction plan for the entire piazza that surround the Ara Pacis and Hadrian's Mausoleum. For this project he held a competition and an Italian professor of architecture at Italy's largest university, La Sapienza, was chosen for the project. As with anything in Rome, things are moving at a snails pace so we will see what actually happens, but supposedly they want to move the street that runs along the river there underground to create an open pedestrian space that would carry the piazza all the way to the water. It sounds like it could be beautiful.

I, however, think it would be a shame to tear down the museum. It is not Roman in the traditional sense but even as city as ancient as Rome needs to make steps to move itself toward the future. Without anything to freshen a city, or anything for that matter, it languishes.

Here's a Times article written right after the opening of the museum that speaks non too favorably about it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/arts/design/25paci.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=ara%20pacis&st=cse