The Baths of Diocletian

Rome's Museo Nazionale Romano branch in the ancient Baths of Diocletian

Museo Nazionale Romano - Baths of Diocletian
Via Enrico De Nicola 79, on Piazza dei Cinquecento
tel. +39-06-3996-7700
archeoroma.beniculturali.it
Open Tues-Sun 9am–7:45pm
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The Baths of Diocletian complex. (Photo by Anthony M)The Terme di Diocleziano (Baths of Diocletian), built at the turn of the 4th century, have been put to various other uses over the centuries, and today you can visit three main parts.MNR Branches
Palazzo Massimo
Palazzo Altemps
Baths of Diocletian
Aula Ottagona

The Museum

The baths complex was formerly the sole seat of the National Roman Museum of antiquities, closed for more than a decade until the late 1990s saw the collections split up, with the best pieces going to new branches at the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (nearby) and the Palazzo Altemps (near Piazza Navona).

Cloisters of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome's Baths of Diocletian complex. (Photo by Agnete)What remains of the Museo Nazionale Romano in the baths complex itself, reopened in summer 2000, consists of three sections, mostly installed in modernized rooms of a 16th-century charterhouse that occupy large chunk of the baths complex. (The Great Halls of the baths are open to the public only when filled with temporary exhibits.)

There's an extensive epigraphy section whose inscriptions aren’t particularly interesting (even if they are exhaustively explained on English placards), although the early Republican terra-cotta statuary is nice.

"Christ as the Good Shepherd) an AD 4th century marble engraving in Rome's Museo Nazionale Romano - Baths of Diocletian.. (Photo by Kleuske)Also intriguing: a few rare shards of marble and pottery decorated with words or drawings referring to early Christianity.

Armor and weapons foudn in a 5th century BC tomb in Lanuvium, near Rome
Armor and weapons found in a 5th century BC tomb in Lanuvium, near RomePerhaps the most interesting bit focuses on what Rome was like before there were any Romans—which is to say, before the Latin tribe that lived on and around the Palatine Hill grew, expanded their hegemony, and spread out to conquer, well, pretty much everything.

There is the large exhibit on pre-Latin peoples from the area has informative placards to go along with the usual glass cases filled with Bronze and Iron Age pots and tomb paraphernalia, like the 5th century BC arms and armor pictured to the right.

The huge 79m- (264–ft.-) to-a-side Michelangelesque Cloister, supposedly based on a drawing by Michelangelo himself, is lined by headless statues and beat-up sarcophagi.

The Church

To catch a glimpse of the ancient structure of the Baths of Diocletian unencumbered by the charterhouse, duck into the exhibit in the sacristy of Santa Maria degli Angeli, a section of the baths converted into a church by Michelangelo.

The Hall

For the best quick sense of the baths as they were, drop by the nearby Aula Ottagona, a huge and airy brick room unadorned save for a funky modern inner webbing (left from its 1928 gig as a planetarium) and—as yet another branch of the Museo Nazionale Romano (yet with a separate entrance)—several excellent oversized ancient statues that came from this and other baths complexes around the city.

Tips

Planning your day: Though of historic interest, these exhibits are far from spectacular. Pop in anyway, since admission is included on the cumulative ticket for the other MNR branches, but don't expect to spend more than half an hour. (Throw in the other parts of the complex, though—the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli and the Aula Ottagona—and maybe you're looking an an hour to 90 minutes total.) The ticket office closes an hour before the museum.
Cumulative ticket: The regular ticket to the museum includes all branches of the Museo Nazionale Romano for the amazing low price of €7 (you get a week in which to visit them all). This is a fantastic deal—though also consider using this as one of the two freebies you get with the Roma Pass (though there are few more expensive sights—the Forum/Colosseum, or the Galleria Borghese—on which you might spend your two "get in free" coupons).

These sights are also covered by the Archaeologia Card, but that is no longer a good deal.

Branches of the Museo Nazionale Romano: Palazzo Massimo, Palazzo Altemps, Baths of Diocletian, Aula Ottagona
Santa Maria degli Angeli (Michelangelo converted another bit of the the baths complex into this church)
Rome cumulative tickets
Other museums of antiquity and ancient sights
More sights near Termini
Sights in the neighboring Via Veneto/Villa Borghese area

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This material was last updated February 2011. All information was accurate at the time.

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