Museo Nazionale Romano to Open Diocletian Baths Storage to Public

The Museo Nazionale Romano will make the storage areas of the Baths of Diocletian in Rome accessible to visitors, according to director Stéphane Verger. The project, funded by the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan), involves creating thematic routes inside the large Roman halls that currently house the storerooms. Visitors will be able to view the collections in situ, and artworks will also be brought out for display. The initiative is part of a broader expansion plan that includes adding 600 square meters of space at Palazzo Altemps and redeveloping the Crypta Balbi. Verger noted that the storerooms hold over a million artifacts, including the Medagliere at Palazzo Massimo with 600,000 coins, plus the archaeological archive of the Superintendence with hundreds of thousands of 20th-century photographs. Many of these objects have been exhibited abroad but not in Rome. At Palazzo Altemps, a collection of 2nd-century BC Greek sculpture from Fianello Sabino in Sabina will be displayed once the museum's route is completed. All expansion work is expected to be finished in about one to one and a half years. Verger also discussed the trend of hosting contemporary art exhibitions in ancient settings, citing the current show "Le forme del tempo" by Alessandro Dandini at the Baths of Diocletian, which attracted many Romans who had never visited the site before.