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Ben Sparkman

Art 101: Woodbridge MW

12 March 2012

Review of: Strazzulla, M. 2009. “War and Peace: Housing the Ara Pacis in the Eternal City”

Abstract

In her article “War and Peace: Housing the Ara Pacis in the Eternal City”, Strazzulla

asserts that despite its criticisms and shortcomings, the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome is a fitting

combination of modern architectural ideas and ancient art tradition. She likes the contemporary

look and feel of the building but complains about its lighting and overall size. She concludes that

regardless of its faults, the museum is a bold contemporary statement to the old traditional

architectural landscape of Rome.

Content and Argumentation

Strazzulla begins her article with a detailed history of the Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of

Augustan Peace), which was commissioned in 13 B.C.E. to honor the return of Augustus from

peace talks in Spain. She describes the altar and its decoration in detail and tells the story of how

and why the new museum was built. In the 1930’s, Benito Mussolini had the excavated pieces of

the Ara Pacis reconstructed and housed in a pavilion designed by Vittorio Ballio Morpugo. In

1996, architect Richard Meier was commissioned to create a new museum to house the altar. The

building is a rectangle, with the longer sidewalls and front entrance made primarily of glass. The

altar is easily viewed from the street and plaza outside, but the horizontal louvers on the glass

throw inconvenient shadows and light reflections that distort the view from inside. She also

complains that the internal lighting is unsatisfactory and the walkways on either side of the altar

are so narrow that visitors have trouble viewing the side friezes.
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However, she enjoys seeing the altar in the context of the rest of the city through the glass

walls, looking from inside to outside. The rear travertine wall creates a nice backdrop for the

altar, but blocks the view of other important buildings in the area when viewed at certain angles

from outside. Strazzulla feels that certain additions to the museum were unnecessary, including

the auditorium and outside obelisk. She indicates that the omission of these could have

minimized the footprint of the museum. Other features such as a computerized virtual tour,

relevant exhibits, state-of-the-art interior environmental controls, and the overall elegance and

grandeur of the building significantly lessen other shortcomings of the museum.

Context

Strazzula also tackles the idea of the museum as a concept rather than simply a building.

Some critics were displeased at the destruction of the Morpugo pavilion, which they felt had

historical importance as an example of rationalist architecture and a Fascist perspective in

exhibition design. Strazzula argues that the pavilion changed much over the years, and was so

different from the original plan that it could not be considered a “cornerstone of rational

architecture” (Strazzula 4). Spiro Kostof’s “The Emperor and the Duce: The Planning of Piazzale

Augusto Imperatore in Rome” details Mussolini’s and the Fascist’s involvement with the Ara

Pacis. Strazzula also mentions the museum’s biggest public criticism by Vittorio Sgarbi, who

claimed it looked like a “highway rest stop or a pizzeria, good for the outskirts of Las Vegas, but

certainly not for the center of Rome” (Architettiroma 2003, 19 March). Strazzula counters by

indicating the materials and design choices that Meier made “reclaimed the urban context,

renewing it with a touch of class,” and that condemning any modern architecture ensures that

Rome will forever live in antiquity.

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Bibliography

Architettiroma. 2003, 19 March. “Ara Pacis: Il cantiere delle polemiche opinione di Vittorio

Sgarbi.” http://www.architettiroma.it/archivio. aspx?id=5351 (23 February 2009).

Kostof, S. 1978. “The Emperor and the Duce: The Planning of Piazzale Augusto Imperatore in

Rome.” In Art and Architecture in the Service of Politics, edited by H.A. Millon and L.

Nochlin, 270–325. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.

Strazzulla, M.J. 2009. “War and Peace: Housing the Ara Pacis in the Eternal City.” Online

Review: Museum. AJA 113 (2): 1-10.

http://www.ajaonline.org/sites/default/files/AJA1132_Strazzulla.pdf.