Centrale Montemartini (Via Ostiense 106, Rome, the Capitoline Museums branch in the former Giovanni Montemartini thermal electricity generating station, opened as a permanent museum in 2005 after the 1997 temporary exhibition that became an immediate critical success): the museum that the curatorial decision to contrast the ancient Greek and Roman marble sculpture (the overflow collection from the Capitoline Museums' main Palazzo dei Conservatori building, temporarily displaced during the 1997 renovation and then housed permanently in the power station) with the specific 1909 industrial machinery (the three original electricity-generating units, the John and Steam machines (the 1909 Breda steam engines), the Diesel machines, and the specific coal furnace infrastructure) created is the most genuinely unexpected single museum experience available in Rome and one of the most atmospherically specific museum environments in any European city.
The specific Centrale Montemartini aesthetic: the Esquiline Venus (the 1st century BC marble torso whose specific pose (the preparation for bathing, the himation wrapped around the lower body, the arms raised) and specific provenance (the Horti Lamiani on the Esquiline Hill, the imperial garden that the 1874 Rome urban development excavations exposed) make her the most famous single Centrale Montemartini sculpture) standing in front of the specific Diesel engine hall (the three massive 1909 diesel generators whose scale (8m height, 200 tons each) dwarfs the marble figure while the color contrast (the white marble against the black iron and the ochre brick) produces the specific visual tension that makes the Centrale Montemartini the most photographed "sculpture in industrial setting" in Italy): this is the specific curatorial achievement that the Centrale Montemartini represents, the accidental discovery (the temporary necessity of the 1997 displacement) that became the permanent definition of a new museum type.
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Centrale Montemartini: The Collection and the Machines
The Sculpture Collection
Centrale Montemartini sculpture collection (the specific Capitoline Museums overflow, the works that the Capitoline Museums' main building can't display permanently due to space constraints but that constitute some of the most significant individual works in the Capitoline collection): the Room of the Boilers (the Sala delle Caldaie, the largest single room, where the boiler infrastructure provides the backdrop for the most extensive sculpture display): the specific highlights (the Colosseum Hill excavation material (the 1874-1880 excavations of the Horti Lamiani on the Esquiline Hill that produced the specific sculpture group (the Muse series (the 9 Muses in Carrara marble from the 2nd century AD)) displayed along the boiler room wall). The Fortune figure (the Tyche/Fortuna (the Hellenistic Fortune figure (2nd century BC) in the specific posture (the cornucopia, the rudder) that identifies the personification of Fortune in the Greek-Roman iconography)). And the specific portrait heads (the Republican-era portrait busts (the verist portrait tradition of the Roman Republican period, the unflattering, specifically individual portraits (the warts, the wrinkles, the baldness) that the Roman portrait tradition documents in the 1st century BC) displayed in the machine hall).
Centrale Montemartini: tours & tickets
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See availability & prices →Compare tours on Viator →We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.The Industrial Architecture
The Centrale Montemartini industrial architecture: the Giovanni Montemartini power station (built 1909, the specific Roman public utility infrastructure (the ACEA, the Azienda Comunale Elettricità e Acque, the Rome municipal electricity and water company whose foundation in 1909 coincided with the construction of the Montemartini station as the first Rome public electricity generating facility) whose specific brief operational life (the station served Rome from 1912 to 1963. 51 years, before the post-war Italian electricity network expansion made the small central generating station economically unviable) left the specific industrial infrastructure intact for the next museum conversion): the John Room (the Sala dei Motori John, the steam engine hall whose three Breda steam engines (the John machines, named after the specific British engineer model they were based on) remain in the specific operational configuration (the connecting rods, the flywheels, and the transmission system visible in the specific open-machinery format that the museum preserves)): the visitor who enters the Centrale Montemartini without prior knowledge of its specific dual character arrives at the specific reveal moment (the marble statue visible through the industrial iron framework) that constitutes the most specifically surprising single museum moment in Rome.
Q&A: Centrale Montemartini Rome
How do I get from the Rome historic center to the Centrale Montemartini?
The Centrale Montemartini location (Via Ostiense 106, the Ostiense neighborhood south of the Testaccio district, approximately 3km from the Colosseum): by Metro B (the Garbatella stop, the closest Metro B station to the Centrale Montemartini, 12 minutes on foot via Via Ostiense). By Tram 3 (Via Ostiense/Ostiense stop, the tram from Largo Argentina or the Testaccio area to the Ostiense direction): approximately 15 minutes from the Testaccio. The combined Centrale Montemartini + Testaccio visit strategy (the most efficient single afternoon program): the Testaccio market (the Mercato di Testaccio, the covered market at Via Beniamino Franklin, the best single Rome food market for the lunch visit) + the Centrale Montemartini (the 2-hour afternoon visit): the Ostiense neighborhood provides the most specifically un-touristic single Rome afternoon available within walking distance of the Testaccio. Tickets: approximately €12 standard. The combined Capitoline Museums ticket covers the Centrale Montemartini. Book at en.museicapitolini.org. Open Tuesday-Sunday 9:00-19:00.
Internal Links
- Roma Antica: Dal Foro ai Musei Capitolini
- Centrale Montemartini: Prima Domenica Gratuita
- Roma Fuori Stagione: Ostiense e i Musei
- Musei Romani Nascosti: Montemartini e Crypta Balbi
- Fotografare Montemartini: Marmo e Ferro
- Ostiense: Il Quartiere Dimenticato di Roma
- Centrale Montemartini: Metro B Garbatella
