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Capitoline Museums
1471 - the art arrived but there was no museum yet! Pope Sixtus the Fourth donated ancient bronze statues to Rome, then Michelangelo built these twin palaces around them like treasure boxes! In 1734, they opened to EVERYONE, making this one of the world's first public museums! These mirror buildings hide a secret tunnel underground with exactly 67 ancient steps - can you find and count them all?
Did You Know?
- Founded in 1471 by Pope Sixtus IV, the Capitoline Museums are the world’s oldest public museum, having opened their doors to the public centuries before most other museums—thanks to the Pope’s donation of ancient bronzes to the people of Rome, symbolizing a ‘restitution’ of Rome’s heritage.
- The iconic bronze Capitoline Wolf, long believed to be an Etruscan masterpiece from the 5th century BC, is actually thought by some experts to be medieval—possibly created in the 12th century—while the famous twins Romulus and Remus were added in the 15th century by artist Antonio del Pollaiolo.
- The museum’s two main buildings, Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo, face each other across Michelangelo’s spectacular Piazza del Campidoglio—a design so influential that the square became a model for civic spaces worldwide, and even today, visitors can walk between the buildings via an underground passage, the Galleria Lapidaria, without stepping outside.