The Museo dell'Ara Pacis (Museum of the Ara Pacis) was inaugurated in 2006 and houses the Ara Pacis Augusti (9 B.C.). It was the first major architectural urban project carried out in the historic centre of Rome after the fall of the Fascist regime. Designed by American architect Richard Meier, it is built in steel, travertine, glass and plaster. Large glass surfaces allow the visitor to admire the monument in ideal light conditions. The museum space is designed so as to modulate the light/shadow contrast, particularly in the first two rooms of the building: a first area, the entrance gallery, has limited direct natural lighting and leads to the central pavilion. The latter houses the Ara Pacis and is flooded with natural light which filters in through 500 square metres of glass: this results in uninterrupted continuity with the outside world and favours silence, thereby allowing a fuller appreciation of the monument. The tranquillity and silence allow one to appreciate the slow rhythms of the decorative motifs and to admire the bas-reliefs on either side of the altar depicting a procession of high priests and members of the imperial family.
