National Roman Museum

Four locations, one great story.

The National Roman Museum has as its mission the acquisition, conservation, enhancement and use of a unique cultural heritage in the world. This exceptional testimony of the past is promoted and developed by the National Roman Museum, projecting the sense of historical continuity into the future.

The requirement to create a ‘Museum of Antiquities in the Capital of the Kingdom’ was announced as soon as Rome became the capital of Italy in 1870. 

The National Roman Museum was created on 7 March 1889.

The Museum is reorganised into four sites, each with its own specific focus: 

• Palazzo Altemps, an aristocratic 16th-century mansion, dedicated to the historical collections and the story of art collecting;
• Palazzo Massimo, dedicated to the Roman artistic production unearthed in the city of Rome and surrounding areas and to the  the Coin and Medal Collection of the National Roman Museum; 
• Baths of Diocletian, with their monumental spaces, is used to accommodate the Museum of Written Communication in the Roman World and the Museum of the Protohistory of the Latin Peoples; 
• Crypta Balbi and corresponding archaeological area.