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The NY Times reviewed the Ara Pacis Museum in late September 2006. The author levels both scant praise and heavy criticism at the architect - he uses the term "flop" early on. Meier has tried to move the conversation about the shop and the auditorium to the client, the mayor of Rome:
The museum's bloated size was not entirely Mr. Meier's fault; the government client had something to do with it.... read more.
A recent editorial in World Architecture News says that the controversy about the Ara Pacis Museum possible being razed is quieting down:
Mary Lou Bunn, a communications spokesperson for Richard Meier's office said, "things have been quiet" (since the announcement was made). She added that Meier "is willing to talk to the Mayor" about the matter and that "people at the firm are very attached to t... read more.
Here is the ArcSpace.com website page about the Ara Pacis Museum. This is an architecture based website, and the gist of this article is overall sympathetic to the project and the architect - it doesn't get into the Ara Pacis itself in any detail. It does have some good photos of the museum and architectural models, computer renderings, and elevation drawings though. If you are interested in the b... read more.
You just knew this had to happen eventually (sadly):
The Ara Pacis museum, a controversial modern museum in central Rome, has been hit by vandals with paint-filled balloons.
Vandals left a porcelain toilet and two packs of toilet paper next to the museum in the overnight attack, which appeared to be a comment on the design.
The paint on the white, block-like structure was red and green — the ... read more.
Here is another event slated to take place at the Ara Pacis Museum:
Dissonanze, the festival for electronic music and multimedia art returns to Rome for the eighth year...
The 2008 edition of Dissonanze will also involve new spaces. The historic and architecturally acclaimed PALAZZO DEI CONGRESSI and L'AUDITORIUM PARCO DELLA MUSICA (which last year hosted the great Karlheinz Stockhausen: first a... read more.
A new article in The New York Sun about the Ara Pacis Museum and Richard Meier from James Gardner, with a pointed criticism that I can relate to - the details:
"In architecture, details matter. The principle was brought home for me during a visit to the recently completed Ara Pacis Museum on the banks of the Tiber River in Rome. Designed by the New York-based Richard Meier, the building itself ex... read more.
Part of this year's FotoGrafia exhibit will be in the Ara Pacis Museum - from artxworld.com:
A new production of work by Antonio Biasiucci, curated by Giuseppe Prode and dedicated to Exvoto will be presented at the prestigious location of the Ara Pacis Museum. This is a new stage in the photographer's "from Genesis to Catharsis". In this beautiful location designed by Richard Meyer, there will al... read more.
The NY Times has published several articles about the new museum. This one, "Imperial Roman Treasure Gets a Modern Home", first appeared on April 24, 2006:
Since this city was not built in a day, it is perhaps unsurprising that a plan to house Caesar Augustus's Ara Pacis, or altar of peace, in a new museum has taken 10 years to be realized. Romans, after all, feel possessive about their city. And... read more.
In Rome the other day, Richard Meier's design for the Ara Pacis was publicly burnt in the streets by an enraged critic, who described it as "an indecent cesspit by a useless architect". Right or wrong, he seized the headlines. We need a few bonfires.
From City plans? Hand me the matches... read more.
One of the first readable blog entries I have come across about the Ara Pacis museum (and it is about the museum - not the altar):
Every so often, I hear how ugly Richard Meier's home to the Ara Pacis is-- what a mistake, it ruins the cityscape of Rome, it's too white. Blah blah blah. First of all, the city scape isn't ruined, it's a flat bed roof, low and hidden beneath Rome's domes. Second, its... read more.
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... read more.
Rome's new mayor continues to make news:
Alemanno praised a district south of Rome, which Mussolini built as a symbol of fascism, calling it an example of "architecture that was part of the modernisation process and gave importance to Italy's cultural identity". The EUR district's monumental style, built for an international exhibition that was abandoned because of the war, was modelled on that o... read more.
Yes - this is ridiculous news. And sad. Sort of hard to believe that a modern government can act like the Taliban:
Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government plans to tear down part of a Rome museum designed by U.S. architect Richard Meier, Corriere della Sera said, citing comments by Culture Undersecretary Francesco Giro.
A travertine stone wall at the Ara Pacis... read more.
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-co... read more.
More from Meier about the proposed demolition (via Bloomberg):
"The longer I'm involved in this the more bizarre it seems,'' said Meier, who accuses Alemanno of animosity toward the arts.
And this nugget from Culture Minister Sandro Bondi:
"It's really difficult for me to find beauty in contemporary art,'' said Bondi in an interview in the current issue of Italian women's magazine Grazia. "If I... read more.
Contemporary Italian artist Mimmo Paladino and music legend Brain Eno have a new, site specific exhibit at the Ara Pacis Museum:
This event, which could well be described as long-awaited, is the second time that these two indisputably important contributors to contemporary culture have worked together; the first being almost ten years ago in 1999 at London's "Round House".
I can't find many deta... read more.
ANSA has some more details in their story of the paint attack on the Ara Pacis museum, and a picture:
(ANSA) - Rome, June 1 - A wall of Rome's controversial Ara Pacis museum was spattered in bursts of red and green paint on Monday in an attack by unidentified vandals.
Police arrived on the scene at dawn after being alerted to the paint splashes, which were in the colours of the Italian flag.
... read more.
Came across and interesting blog post about the Ara Pacis Museum:
"The contemporary fetishization of this moment in history comes from a desire to remember Rome's one-time value and, in turn, anticipate the return of this value. The construction of this new museum is a direct act of myth-making. This agenda is clearly mapped out in the ichnography of the building. The fear of fire, or at least th... read more.
Expect visitors to increase in 2008:
And travelers are rediscovering the Ara Pacis -- the first-century "Altar of Peace" built by Emperor Augustus to kick off the Pax Romana. It's wonderfully displayed in a state-of-the-art exhibit housed in a starkly modern building -- the first new construction in Rome's old center since 1938.
I love to hate this guy - from the TV show to the books to the armi... read more.
Here is a really stunning slide show from the International Herald Tribune of the Valentino exhibit at the Ara Pacis Museum. I thought from the news reports that the museum was just going to be used for an event, but it looks like this exhibit will be in place until late October.
Photo credit Christopher Moore for the International Herald Tribune... read more.
Wanted in Rome is reporting the following:
Italian design wins Piazza Augusto Imperatore project.
The city has presented the plans which have won the competition for the second phase of the long-term revamping of the Piazza Augusto Imperatore and its mausoleum...
According to these plans, there will be a large pedestrian area all round the mausoleum, with gardens which descend towards the entra... read more.
So it seems Meier has an exhibit in his honor at some new museum - the Louise T. Blouin Foundation. Bloomberg news has an interview with Meier:
"Meier happily takes credit for two recent Rome buildings. One is the uncharacteristically curvilinear Jubilee Church, with three sail-like arches, in a working-class suburb. A more central landmark is his glass-and-travertine container for the Museo dell... read more.
The Comune of Rome has a new blog - an official blog - for Rome's museums. This is definitely cool - now I just need to work on my Italian. Link: Blog Musei in Comune Roma... read more.
Interesting article from cafebable.com:
How does the ‘Eternal City' juggle the need to preserve its past with the equally important need to construct its future?
In his design for a new museum to house the Ara Pacis, a Roman altar commemorating Augustus' victory in Gaul and Spain in 15 BC, Richard Meier was always going to have to tread carefully. Not only was the American ‘star' architect c... read more.
So while we were on holiday in Sorrento this news broke - which explains the spike in traffic to the site the last few days. Personally it sounds like a lot of hot air, and a lot of free publicity for the new (reportedly far right) mayor. This seems to be a tried and true trick of Italian politicians. Does anyone think that a brand new building like this is going to be razed? Would the Romans want... read more.
"And Rome is starting to look more contemporary - in a uniquely Roman way. American architect Richard Meier's new museum for the Ara Pacis, opened in 2006, has been attacked as a coldly modernist intrusion into the city's past, and yet, what was more shocking, seeing it last summer, was an exhibition of dresses by Valentino that cluttered Meier's cool space. Valentino's opulently sheethed mannequi... read more.
The Ara Pacis museum is getting a lot of duty as an event space:
"As for the exhibition, Valentino a Roma: 45 Years of Style is the retrospective that, via around 300 garments and rare archive material, will celebrate Valentino's 45 years of creativity, with a spectacular staging in the Ara Pacis Museum, which was recently renovated and extended by architect Richard Meier. The exhibition, which w... read more.
From the Guardian:
"It is a buzz that mayor Walter Veltroni wants back, prompting him to hand over the keys to a second Roman temple, the Ara Pacis, originally built to honour the conquest of France by Augustus. Valentino will host a 300-dress exhibition of his best works in the temple."
Following the news for the Ara Pacis museum as closely as we do here, it seems obvious that the new museum wa... read more.
... read more.
WantedInRome is reporting:
Since its opening in April 2006 l'Ara Pacis has had more than 200,000 visitors.... read more.
Sort of a hit and run piece from the Telegraph
"Rome recently allowed Valentino, a fashion designer, to throw a party around the Ara Pacis, a gleaming white marble altar from 13bc celebrating Augustus's victories in Spain and France. He also erected a tacky resin temple to showcase his frocks in the middle of the Forum. The city even wanted a company to wrap an advertisement around the outside of... read more.
This looks like a good site to visit if you are into architecture: pushpullbar.com
There is a very long and detailed post up about the Ara Pacis Museum, with lots of photos and information.
... read more.
News
An Oracle of Modernism in Ancient Rome
The NY Times reviewed the Ara Pacis Museum in late September 2006. The author levels both scant praise and heavy criticism at the architect - he uses the term "flop" early on. Meier has tried to move the conversation about the shop and the auditorium to the client, the mayor of Rome:
The museum's bloated size was not entirely Mr. Meier's fault; the government client had something to do with it.... read more. Ara Pacis Museum controversy quiet for now
A recent editorial in World Architecture News says that the controversy about the Ara Pacis Museum possible being razed is quieting down:
Mary Lou Bunn, a communications spokesperson for Richard Meier's office said, "things have been quiet" (since the announcement was made). She added that Meier "is willing to talk to the Mayor" about the matter and that "people at the firm are very attached to t... read more. Ara Pacis Museum on ArcSpace.com
Here is the ArcSpace.com website page about the Ara Pacis Museum. This is an architecture based website, and the gist of this article is overall sympathetic to the project and the architect - it doesn't get into the Ara Pacis itself in any detail. It does have some good photos of the museum and architectural models, computer renderings, and elevation drawings though. If you are interested in the b... read more. Ara Pacis museum vandalized
You just knew this had to happen eventually (sadly):
The Ara Pacis museum, a controversial modern museum in central Rome, has been hit by vandals with paint-filled balloons.
Vandals left a porcelain toilet and two packs of toilet paper next to the museum in the overnight attack, which appeared to be a comment on the design.
The paint on the white, block-like structure was red and green — the ... read more. DISSONANZE 08 at the Ara Pacis Museum
Here is another event slated to take place at the Ara Pacis Museum:
Dissonanze, the festival for electronic music and multimedia art returns to Rome for the eighth year...
The 2008 edition of Dissonanze will also involve new spaces. The historic and architecturally acclaimed PALAZZO DEI CONGRESSI and L'AUDITORIUM PARCO DELLA MUSICA (which last year hosted the great Karlheinz Stockhausen: first a... read more. Filling in the Details
A new article in The New York Sun about the Ara Pacis Museum and Richard Meier from James Gardner, with a pointed criticism that I can relate to - the details:
"In architecture, details matter. The principle was brought home for me during a visit to the recently completed Ara Pacis Museum on the banks of the Tiber River in Rome. Designed by the New York-based Richard Meier, the building itself ex... read more. FotoGrafia exhibit at the Ara Pacis Museum
Part of this year's FotoGrafia exhibit will be in the Ara Pacis Museum - from artxworld.com:
A new production of work by Antonio Biasiucci, curated by Giuseppe Prode and dedicated to Exvoto will be presented at the prestigious location of the Ara Pacis Museum. This is a new stage in the photographer's "from Genesis to Catharsis". In this beautiful location designed by Richard Meyer, there will al... read more. Imperial Roman Treasure Gets a Modern Home
The NY Times has published several articles about the new museum. This one, "Imperial Roman Treasure Gets a Modern Home", first appeared on April 24, 2006:
Since this city was not built in a day, it is perhaps unsurprising that a plan to house Caesar Augustus's Ara Pacis, or altar of peace, in a new museum has taken 10 years to be realized. Romans, after all, feel possessive about their city. And... read more. Incendiary
In Rome the other day, Richard Meier's design for the Ara Pacis was publicly burnt in the streets by an enraged critic, who described it as "an indecent cesspit by a useless architect". Right or wrong, he seized the headlines. We need a few bonfires.
From City plans? Hand me the matches... read more. It's The Way He Stands
One of the first readable blog entries I have come across about the Ara Pacis museum (and it is about the museum - not the altar):
Every so often, I hear how ugly Richard Meier's home to the Ara Pacis is-- what a mistake, it ruins the cityscape of Rome, it's too white. Blah blah blah. First of all, the city scape isn't ruined, it's a flat bed roof, low and hidden beneath Rome's domes. Second, its... read more. Italians Protest U.S. Museum
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... read more. Italy needed fascism, says the new Duce
Rome's new mayor continues to make news:
Alemanno praised a district south of Rome, which Mussolini built as a symbol of fascism, calling it an example of "architecture that was part of the modernisation process and gave importance to Italy's cultural identity". The EUR district's monumental style, built for an international exhibition that was abandoned because of the war, was modelled on that o... read more. Italy to Tear Down Part of Richard Meier Museum
Yes - this is ridiculous news. And sad. Sort of hard to believe that a modern government can act like the Taliban:
Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government plans to tear down part of a Rome museum designed by U.S. architect Richard Meier, Corriere della Sera said, citing comments by Culture Undersecretary Francesco Giro.
A travertine stone wall at the Ara Pacis... read more. Julian Schnabel calls Ara Pacis Museum "an air-conditioning unit"
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-co... read more. Meier Says Ara Pacis Is Victim of Italian Politics
More from Meier about the proposed demolition (via Bloomberg):
"The longer I'm involved in this the more bizarre it seems,'' said Meier, who accuses Alemanno of animosity toward the arts.
And this nugget from Culture Minister Sandro Bondi:
"It's really difficult for me to find beauty in contemporary art,'' said Bondi in an interview in the current issue of Italian women's magazine Grazia. "If I... read more. Mimmo Paladino | Brian Eno: a work for the Ara Pacis
Contemporary Italian artist Mimmo Paladino and music legend Brain Eno have a new, site specific exhibit at the Ara Pacis Museum:
This event, which could well be described as long-awaited, is the second time that these two indisputably important contributors to contemporary culture have worked together; the first being almost ten years ago in 1999 at London's "Round House".
I can't find many deta... read more. More on the Vandalism
ANSA has some more details in their story of the paint attack on the Ara Pacis museum, and a picture:
(ANSA) - Rome, June 1 - A wall of Rome's controversial Ara Pacis museum was spattered in bursts of red and green paint on Monday in an attack by unidentified vandals.
Police arrived on the scene at dawn after being alerted to the paint splashes, which were in the colours of the Italian flag.
... read more. Notes on the Ara Pacis
Came across and interesting blog post about the Ara Pacis Museum:
"The contemporary fetishization of this moment in history comes from a desire to remember Rome's one-time value and, in turn, anticipate the return of this value. The construction of this new museum is a direct act of myth-making. This agenda is clearly mapped out in the ichnography of the building. The fear of fire, or at least th... read more. Oh no - Rick Steves has discovered the Ara Pacis!
Expect visitors to increase in 2008:
And travelers are rediscovering the Ara Pacis -- the first-century "Altar of Peace" built by Emperor Augustus to kick off the Pax Romana. It's wonderfully displayed in a state-of-the-art exhibit housed in a starkly modern building -- the first new construction in Rome's old center since 1938.
I love to hate this guy - from the TV show to the books to the armi... read more. Photos of the Valentino exhibit at the Ara Pacis Museum
Here is a really stunning slide show from the International Herald Tribune of the Valentino exhibit at the Ara Pacis Museum. I thought from the news reports that the museum was just going to be used for an event, but it looks like this exhibit will be in place until late October.
Photo credit Christopher Moore for the International Herald Tribune... read more. Piazza Augusto Imperatore competition at the Ara Pacis
Wanted in Rome is reporting the following:
Italian design wins Piazza Augusto Imperatore project.
The city has presented the plans which have won the competition for the second phase of the long-term revamping of the Piazza Augusto Imperatore and its mausoleum...
According to these plans, there will be a large pedestrian area all round the mausoleum, with gardens which descend towards the entra... read more. Richard Meier Interview
So it seems Meier has an exhibit in his honor at some new museum - the Louise T. Blouin Foundation. Bloomberg news has an interview with Meier:
"Meier happily takes credit for two recent Rome buildings. One is the uncharacteristically curvilinear Jubilee Church, with three sail-like arches, in a working-class suburb. A more central landmark is his glass-and-travertine container for the Museo dell... read more. Rome Museum Blog
The Comune of Rome has a new blog - an official blog - for Rome's museums. This is definitely cool - now I just need to work on my Italian. Link: Blog Musei in Comune Roma... read more. Rome wasn't built in a day
Interesting article from cafebable.com:
How does the ‘Eternal City' juggle the need to preserve its past with the equally important need to construct its future?
In his design for a new museum to house the Ara Pacis, a Roman altar commemorating Augustus' victory in Gaul and Spain in 15 BC, Richard Meier was always going to have to tread carefully. Not only was the American ‘star' architect c... read more. Rome's new mayor threatens to demolish the Ara Pacis Museum
So while we were on holiday in Sorrento this news broke - which explains the spike in traffic to the site the last few days. Personally it sounds like a lot of hot air, and a lot of free publicity for the new (reportedly far right) mayor. This seems to be a tried and true trick of Italian politicians. Does anyone think that a brand new building like this is going to be razed? Would the Romans want... read more. The eternal city
"And Rome is starting to look more contemporary - in a uniquely Roman way. American architect Richard Meier's new museum for the Ara Pacis, opened in 2006, has been attacked as a coldly modernist intrusion into the city's past, and yet, what was more shocking, seeing it last summer, was an exhibition of dresses by Valentino that cluttered Meier's cool space. Valentino's opulently sheethed mannequi... read more. Valentino a Roma: 45 Years of Style
The Ara Pacis museum is getting a lot of duty as an event space:
"As for the exhibition, Valentino a Roma: 45 Years of Style is the retrospective that, via around 300 garments and rare archive material, will celebrate Valentino's 45 years of creativity, with a spectacular staging in the Ara Pacis Museum, which was recently renovated and extended by architect Richard Meier. The exhibition, which w... read more. Valentino event at the Ara Pacis Museum
From the Guardian:
"It is a buzz that mayor Walter Veltroni wants back, prompting him to hand over the keys to a second Roman temple, the Ara Pacis, originally built to honour the conquest of France by Augustus. Valentino will host a 300-dress exhibition of his best works in the temple."
Following the news for the Ara Pacis museum as closely as we do here, it seems obvious that the new museum wa... read more. Video Interview with Ara Pacis Architect Richard Meier
... read more. Visitors flock to Rome's museums
WantedInRome is reporting:
Since its opening in April 2006 l'Ara Pacis has had more than 200,000 visitors.... read more. With all its treasures sold, who will visit Italy?
Sort of a hit and run piece from the Telegraph
"Rome recently allowed Valentino, a fashion designer, to throw a party around the Ara Pacis, a gleaming white marble altar from 13bc celebrating Augustus's victories in Spain and France. He also erected a tacky resin temple to showcase his frocks in the middle of the Forum. The city even wanted a company to wrap an advertisement around the outside of... read more. pushpullbar.com
This looks like a good site to visit if you are into architecture: pushpullbar.com
There is a very long and detailed post up about the Ara Pacis Museum, with lots of photos and information.
... read more. Top experiences in and around Rome:
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Some links to external websites may be affiliate links (hotel bookings, guide books, activities, etc.). Using these services helps to support our efforts here with no additional costs to the user (you!).