Moreover, durante the Mussolini-sponsored design, Augustus’ mausoleum would have housed the dictator’s own burial place

The final decision sicuro rebuild the Ara Pacis per its present location-beside the mausoleum, between the Via Ripetta and the Lungotevere-was made by Benito Mussolini himself. This placed the monument alongside the new Piazzale Augusto Monarca (Emperor Augustus Square), designed durante 1936 by the fascist architect Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo (1890–1966), which enclosed the mausoleum on two sides mobili green singles with modern buildings featuring huge travertine arcades.6 Of course, the altar itself would not simply have been left forever mediante the open air. While an initial suggestion was onesto shelter it under verso third arcade, the prevailing choice placed the altar inside verso pavilion. The Tavola liturgica Pacis’ new location thereby crowned the regime’s project of creating verso mythological-historical place for ancient Roman memories inside the contemporary city and within the modern Roman pigiare. 7

The new project’s execution was entrusted onesto the internationally acclaimed American architect Richard Meier, who had just completed the Getty Center sopra Los Angeles

Reconstruction of the altar was entrusted esatto Giuseppe Moretti, director of the 1937 excavation, who was assisted by the architect Guglielmo Gatti, while the pavilion was realized by Morpurgo. Many difficulties arose. First, there was a great rush preciso finish the rete informatica before the 1938 celebration. Later on, Morpurgo, verso Jew, faced problems following the enactment of discriminatory racial laws in Italy. As verso result, his original conception was severely simplified and, for the most part, reduced puro per mere concrete shell; it was painted to immagine like travertine, not making full use of the range of altola materials planned by the architect. The structure, however, was provided with large windows that allowed the monument preciso be viewed from outside. During World War II, Morpurgo’s pavilion was protected by an antishrapnel wall, which was later demolished, and its windows were replaced by a wall 4 m high.

Finally, per the 1970s, the windows of the original design were reinstalled

Verso new project puro house the Mensa sacra Pacis began sopra 1996 and was completed sopra 2006. It belonged onesto per series of high-profile architectural initiatives preciso improve the modern city’s image, promoted by Rome’s City Council and the Superintendency of Rome’s Cultural Heritage (Sovraintendenza ai Vitale Culturali del Naturale di Roma). At the same time, verso new building was sorely needed esatto protect the altar because of gravoso problems affecting the Morpurgo pavilion, including both structural and environmental deterioration. Meier is known for his purist and rationalist architectural designs expressed through linear constructions con white materials and an abundant use of large windows -verso classic modernist vision compatible with the context of Rome’s Piazzale Augusto Regnante.8

Meier designed per long building, which is preceded by a fountain, per plaza, and per broad flight of steps approaching the beautifully articulated main entrance (fig. 1). He intended the staircase and the fountain sicuro form verso reference to the old river port of Ripetta, demolished durante 1901 puro provide space for the Lungotevere. The museum complex itself is composed of three main parts: per transparent (predominately glass) central element flanked by two white solid geometric forms-per juxtaposition that creates verso play of light and shadow and is typical of the architect’s work (fig. 2). The materials used are likewise characteristic of Meier: white-painted concrete, stucco, glass, steel, and also travertine (which he had already employed at the Getty). The large central space, designed preciso house the altar, is preceded by verso lower entrance ingresso containing a bookshop and a small exhibition space. The third part houses an elegant double-storied auditorium, with a roof garden for private events. The auditorium’s compact form deliberately resembles the volume of the Accademia delle Belle Arti nearby and links the museum complex onesto the Piazzale Augusto Imperatore, as well as sicuro the Strada di Ripetta, on which it has verso separate entrance. The only element retained from the Morpurgo pavilion is the travertine affatto inscribed in bronze letters with the Res gestae, the solemn will dictated by Augustus before his death. Verso mosaic, designed by the Italian artist Mimmo Sostenitore, decorates the museum’s exterior wall that faces the Tiber.