To free up space in the Museum of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, New Museum, and New Wing in Rome, while keeping the works accessible to the public, a 1997 exhibition titled “Machines and Gods” was set up in the renovated premises of the first public power plant in Rome, juxtaposing two diametrically opposed worlds: classical archaeology and industrial archaeology.
In a fascinating play of contrasts, alongside the old production machinery of the plant, masterpieces of ancient sculpture and precious artifacts found in excavations from the late nineteenth century and the 1930s were exhibited, with the reconstruction of large monumental complexes and an illustration of the development of the ancient city from the Republican age to the late Imperial age. The adaptation of the site into a museum, the restoration of the machines, and the educational section of the industrial archaeology sector were carried out by Acea.
The splendid museum space, initially conceived as temporary, on the occasion of the return of part of the sculptures to the Capitoline Hill in 2005, following the completion of restoration work, was confirmed as the permanent home of the most recent acquisitions of the Capitoline Museums collections.
In its spaces, the work of experimenting with new exhibition solutions connected to scientific research on the artifacts continues; the juxtaposition of works from the same context also allows the restoration of the link between the museum and the ancient urban fabric.
The museum itself is included within a broader project for the redevelopment of the Ostiense Marconi area, which provides for the conversion into a cultural hub of the oldest industrialization area of the city of Rome (including, in addition to the Montemartini power plant, the Slaughterhouse, the Gasometer, port structures, the former Mira Lanza, and the former General Markets) with the definitive arrangement of the university headquarters of Roma Tre and the realization of the City of Science.
