The National Museum of the 21st Century Arts is one of the newest museums in Rome. It opened no sooner than 2010, after a period of more than a decade when the project of setting up the museum was carried out, having to face certain difficulties (the changes in the Italian Government, the amplitude of the project, its experimental nature and the like).

The two sections of the museum are the so-called MAXXI Art and MAXXI Architecture. However, the venue is large enough to be home to a bookshop, an exhibition space, and even a performance stage. The complexity of the museum’s mission is mirrored not only by its structural layout, but also by the wide permanent collections it hosts. Here we speak roughly of works gathered through donations, acquisitions, competitions and other undertakings.

Thus, by visiting the museum, tourists have the opportunity to admire works by Marlene Dumas, Maurizio Cattelan, Manfredi Beninati, Alighiero Boetti, William Kentridge, Ugo Rondinone, Gino De Dominicis, Kara Walker, Ed Ruscha, Gilbert & George, Michael Raedecker, Anish Kapoor, Gerhard Richter, Francesco Clemente, Lara Favaretto, Gabriele Basilico, Kiki Smith, Thomas Ruff, Luigi Ghirri, Vanessa Beecroft, Francis Alys, Thomas Schutte, Stefano Arienti, as well as to study the archives which contains documentary materials on the works of architects like Aldo Rossi, Carlo Scarpa, and Pier Luigi Nervi.

The architectural section, for that matter, must not be overlooked. On the contrary, taking into account the building of the museum is an architectural jewel the merits of which have been ascertained at international scale, one can only imagine that, despite the contrast with most of the architectural landscape of Rome, the headquarters of MAXXI offers quite a spectacle. Indeed, designed by Zaha Hadid, the building was awarded the Stirling Prize for architecture in 2010 (awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects), as an ascertainment of the new attained heights in respect to the evolution of architectural concepts at European scale.

Name:
National Museum of the 21st Century Arts (Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo / MAXXI)
Address:
4 A, Via Guido Reni, 00196, Rome, Italy
Telephone:
0039 06 39967350 / 0039 06 3225178
Email:
[email protected]
Website:
www.fondazionemaxxi.it
Opening hours:
Tuesday to Sunday (except Saturdays): 11am to 7pm; Saturdays: 11am to 5:30pm