To free up space at the Museum of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, New Museum, and New Wing in Rome, while keeping the artworks accessible to the public, in 1997 an exhibition titled “The Machines and the Gods” was set up in the renovated spaces of the first public power plant in Rome, juxtaposing two diametrically opposed worlds: classical archaeology and industrial archaeology.
In a suggestive play of contrasts, alongside the old production machinery of the power plant, masterpieces of ancient sculpture and precious artifacts excavated at the end of the nineteenth century and in the 1930s were exhibited, reconstructing large monumental complexes and illustrating the development of the ancient city from the Republican age to the late Imperial period. 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 some sculptures to the Capitoline Hill in 2005, following the completion of renovation works, was confirmed as the permanent home for the most recent acquisitions of the Capitoline Museums.
In its spaces, the work of experimenting with new display solutions linked to scientific research on the artifacts continues; the juxtaposition of works from the same context also allows the restoration of the connection between the museum and the ancient urban fabric.
The museum itself is part of a broader project for the redevelopment of the Ostiense Marconi area, which foresees the conversion of the oldest industrialized area of the city of Rome into a cultural hub (including, besides the Montemartini power plant, the Slaughterhouse, the Gasometer, port facilities, the former Mira Lanza, and the former General Markets), with the definitive establishment of the university campuses of Roma Tre and the creation of the City of Science.
