Overview
Along the Via Ostiense on the left bank of the Tiber, the Montemartini thermoelectric power station, opened in 1912, is an extraordinary example of the redevelopment of an industrial building into a museum, offering a truly remarkable sightseeing experience. Next to the machinery refurbished in shiny black metal, in the grandiose rooms with their Art Nouveau decorations, shine the ancient marbles of the collections from the Capitoline Museums, of which the plant is the second exhibition centre. More than 400 Etruscan, Hellenic and Roman sculptures are exhibited among colossal diesel engines and a steam boiler, masterpieces of ancient sculpture and precious artefacts found in excavations in the late 19th and early 20th century. The sculptures that once adorned the front of the temple of Apollo Sosianus at the Theatre of Marcellus are prominent. The Boiler Room, painted in an incredible blue green, contains one of the most interesting statues in the collection, that of the Muse Polyhymnia, and that of a resting satyr from the Hadrianic period. Another valuable piece in the room is the large mosaic with hunting scenes from S. Bibiana.
