May 2007 Archives

Interesting new photo on flickr of some restoration being done to the altar itself.

Not sure about the choice of the 4 panel view...

This is a year old, but I hadn't come across it before:

"The building has become a flash point for anti-American sentiment and public disaffection for efforts to modernize the ancient city, which residents, historians and many visitors prefer were left untouched. Visitors have taken to expressing their dissatisfaction in graffiti. MEIER IS A CRIMINAL wrote one visitor in English on a construction tarp. IKEA: NOW SELLING TOILETS AT THE ARA PACIS wrote another in Italian. The site has also become a gathering spot for antiwar and anti-American protestors who point to its lack of regard for its surroundings as a symbol of everything they hate about the United States. According to most Italians interviewed at the site, the modern look is wholly unacceptable in the heart of the Eternal City."

From Newswe(a)k.

"To the north there is another grand obelisk which is in fact the pointer of a giant sundial. This too was designed by Augustus and, on his birthday, the shadow of the obelisk points directly at the Ara Pacis, Augustus' altar of peace, one of the finest examples of Roman sculpture ever created. The altar dates from 9BC. It is enclosed by walls of white marble on which are carved bas-reliefs of garlands and flowers. Above this are reliefs of the imperial family, the priests, senators and Roman people going in procession to give thanks for the blessings of the Roman peace."

From the very amusing article "Roman holiday: A trip back in time".

Frankly, I think Schnabel is a blowhard (from Italy Mag):

Well-known artist Julian Schnabel on Thursday provided heavy ammunition for the many critics of Rome's new home for the Roman Empire's most famous peace symbol.

Speaking on the sidelines of a new show he is giving here, Schnabel called the Ara Pacis museum, designed amid fierce polemics by his eminent countryman Richard Meier, "an air-conditioning unit".

"Modern museums are all the same, all glass and marble."

"They're soulless," said Schnabel, whose first-ever Rome show will be at the famous Palazzo Venezia from May 4 to June 26 before moving to Milan.

"People have to realise we're just ghosts, we're going to be leaving pretty soon, so we have to seek beauty in the present and use the things we have, not novelties," said the 55-year-old New York artist and film-maker, whose works dot the world's leading museums.

Schnabel was flanked by a delighted Vittorio Sgarbi, the outspoken art critic, now Milan cultural chief, who once urged students to bomb the building and accused the American architect of "knowing Rome like I know Tibet".

Knowing his paintings I think the phrase "seek beauty in the present and use the things we have, not novelties" is especially egregious. And having your building called "an air-conditioning unit" could be considered a deconstructivist compliment actually.