A Walk in the Capitoline Museums

 Monday was a wet day in Rome so John and I decided it would be best to spend the morning indoors

so we set off for the Capitoline Museums and were soon headed up the elegant Cordonata Staircase 

to Michelangelo's Piazza di Campodoglio.

We've always loved the pieces of the colossal statue of Emperor Constantine so we stopped into the courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori to have yet another fond look.

John examined Constantine's foot.

Inside the museum there are pieces of another huge statue of Constantine, this one in bronze (330-337 AD).

I took this picture of this marble sarcophagus with an unfinished lid.

John took this detail.

Lovely, austere portrait of Sappho.

A fetching Greek sculpture called Ephidrismos -- two girls leaping on each other's backs.

Everything about the Palazzo dei Conservatori is grand. I love the Venetian glass chandeliers found throughout.

The famous Greek Boy with Thorn in bronze from the 1st century BCE.

The Hall of Orazi and Curiazi features a statue of a pope at either end

and frescoes depicting Roman history. Impressive.

As is this fresco of Hannibal in another room.

Here's Johns double portrait of the Hall of the Captains.

He was also interested in that line of heads below the wall-filling fresco.

Here are some details.

Strange.

A last Roman fresco detail.

The only way to enter the second Capitoline museum, the Palazzo Nuovo on the other side of Michelangelo's piazza, is through this underground passage

lined with Roman grave markers.

On the other side there were some great views of the Roman Forum in the rain

through the vast open windows

The Palazzo Nuovo displays rooms ancient sculpture. Many of them have been in this arrangement since the museum opened in the 17th century.

The lovely Capitoline Venus has her own room.

A pensive Artemis caught John's eye

This museum guard and visitor caught mine.

John seems to be sneaking up on an all too aware Marforio in the palazzo's courtyard as we prepare to head back into the rain with our heads full of images.