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Mario Botta's 'Sacred and Profane' Architecture at MAXXI Rome

exhibition · 2026-04-27

The MAXXI museum in Rome hosts 'Sacred and Profane', an exhibition on Mario Botta's architecture from April 8 to September 4, 2022. Botta explores the dialogue between space, matter, and mystery, asserting that architecture inherently transforms nature into culture. The show features prototypes of pearwood vases, a tapestry, original sketches, photographs, and models of museums, cathedrals, synagogues, and pavilions. Botta reflects on the challenge of building churches after 20th-century avant-gardes. Vittorio Sgarbi praises Botta's unique sense of the sacred, even in civic buildings. Botta shares a story of a Greek Orthodox church under construction in Lviv, Ukraine, for the Don Orione congregation, where parishioners donated gold jewelry to gild the cupola's lantern during wartime. The unfinished church is not in the exhibition.

Key facts

  • Exhibition 'Sacred and Profane' at MAXXI Rome from April 8 to September 4, 2022.
  • Mario Botta's architecture explores the dialogue between space, matter, and mystery.
  • Botta states architecture is inherently sacred, transforming nature into culture.
  • The exhibition includes prototypes of pearwood vases, a tapestry, sketches, photographs, and models.
  • Botta discusses the challenge of building churches after 20th-century avant-gardes.
  • Vittorio Sgarbi praises Botta's sense of the sacred in both religious and civic buildings.
  • Botta recounts a Greek Orthodox church project in Lviv, Ukraine, funded by parishioners' gold donations.
  • The unfinished church is not included in the exhibition.
  • Botta met Dürrenmatt, an agnostic who drew angels and apocalypses.
  • Giovanna Melandri describes the exhibition space as 'conclusus'.

Entities

Artists

  • Mario Botta
  • Vittorio Sgarbi
  • Francesca de Paolis
  • Friedrich Dürrenmatt
  • Giovanna Melandri

Institutions

  • MAXXI
  • Galleria Gian Ferrari
  • Artribune
  • Don Orione congregation
  • Istituto Europeo di Design
  • Università La Sapienza di Roma

Locations

  • Rome
  • Italy
  • Lviv
  • Ukraine

Sources