Ara Pacis Museum: tickets, opening hours and tips

The Ara Pacis Museum is the white case of glass and travertine, near the Mausoleum of Augustus and the Tiber, in the center of Rome, that protects the Ara Pacis, the altar of peace commissioned by Augustus. It also hosts temporary exhibitions.

“A Texan gas station,” said Vittorio Sgarbi. The Romans, more wry, called it “Bara Pacis,” the “coffin of peace.” Richard Meier's design, inaugurated in 2006, has sparked debate for a long time. Inside, though, is a two-thousand-year-old treasure.

The altar was decreed by the Senate in 13 BC, for Augustus's return from three years of campaigning in Spain and Gaul. It was consecrated on January 30, 9 BC, the birthday of Livia, the emperor's wife.

Don't miss the procession frieze, on the long sides: Augustus's family files past in order of succession. Among the solemn adults, someone is signaling the children to be quiet, and the little Gaius and Lucius are dressed as Trojans.

Then the panels with scenes from the myths of Rome's origins, such as the relief of Aeneas and that of the Lupercal. They symbolize the peace and prosperity born of the Pax Romana.

The Tiber slowly buried the altar under mud. In the Middle Ages its marbles were used as if from a quarry. From 1568 fragments were found, which ended up in the Uffizi, the Louvre and the Vatican Museums.

Mussolini wanted it rebuilt for the two thousandth anniversary of Augustus's birth. Excavations resumed in 1937 and, to extract the pieces from under a building, the ground was even frozen. In 1938 the altar was reassembled in a case near the Mausoleum.

Meier's case replaced it in 2006: steel, travertine and glass, with large transparent surfaces that give the altar even light. According to Italia Nostra, the costs rose from 5.9 to 16.8 million euros. In 2013, during a downpour, the glass panels gave way and the hall flooded.