The Energy of Culture

The Centrale Montemartini: From Industrial Production to Archaeological Museum

Abstract

The Centrale Montemartini in Rome is a rare and significant example of the conversion of an industrial building into a museum space. This article analyses the transition from power station to archaeological museum, focusing in particular on the history of the building and the stages of transformation that shaped the adaptation of its spaces to their new cultural purpose. This will provide an understanding of how the former industrial structure has been reinterpreted to house archaeological works while maintaining the characteristic elements of its previous productive function, succeeding in the difficult task of creating a dialogue between ancient statues and modern machinery, thanks to an exhibition that manages to enhance all the subjects. The container (the power station rooms with the machinery) stands out thanks to the content (the statues and ancient artefacts) and vice versa. By exhibiting the main adaptation works necessary for the museumisation and exhibition layout, it will be possible to understand how the Centrale Montemartini is a model of adaptive reuse in which the conversion into a museum does not erase the memory of its original function, but integrates it into the new cultural identity of the building, which has become the second exhibition centre of the Capitoline Museums.