Ara Pacis Museum

The construction of the museum of Ara Pacis has caused a confrontation in the eyes of Roman citizens for sometime now. The museum was designed by Richard Meier and was fully established by the year 2006. The museum remains for the most part unchanged and was designed to be “permeable and transparent in the midst of an urban environment, without compromising the safety” of Ara Pacis (en.arapacis.it/sede/ il_progetto_meier). The historical contradictions and its detachments from Rome’s orthodox architecture can be viewed as only a masterpiece or utter disaster. The museum was created to house the Ara Pacis, an altar erected as a symbol of Roman peace from around 9 B.C. The design of the museum was integrated to illuminate its surrounding by supplementing the high quality materials that it was built with. For instance the “travertine gives continuity in the colour scheme, the plaster and glass, which create a two-way transition between the interior and exterior, give a contemporary effect of volume and transparency, simultaneously full and empty.” (en.arapacis.it/ sede/il_progetto_meier).
Future changes have been discussed and approved to modify the area. The changes will be “drastically reducing the height of the wall between an open-air plaza and the museum, which houses the 2,000-year-old altar, and a heavily trafficked road along the Tiber river” (www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/arts/design/). The reconstruction and road-relocation will cost 20 millions euros; and “Rome hasn't yet said how that will be financed.” The project is set to be completed by 2013, but is this really the smartest thing to invest money in? I believe the design and construction of the Museum of Ara Pacis is perfectly done. The contrast with its surrounding in Rome adds to the composition of Rome’s environment positively. One cannot argue that the museum sticks out like a sore thumb, but the technology and its exterior design are vastly interesting and perfectly constructed.
It is obvious of how this building differs from other historical monuments throughout Rome. From the absence of classical or renaissance architecture to the materials that it was built with, it is a monument that Rome has never seen before. Vandalism has struck this museum because of its contrary characteristics to its surroundings, but one cannot only single this building. The Piazza Augusto Imperatore designed by Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo is another example of how the Fascists used architecture to reshape and distort history. However, people do not embrace the fact that this museum is the only museum that was designed to obtain the “ideal relationship between aesthetic effect, transparency, absorbance of sound, heat isolation and light filtration (en.arapacis. it/sede/il_progetto_meier). The technology that is within this museum pushes technology to its limits.
I believe people tend to rely on preconceived notions about certain fixations without taking the time to actually understand the history that affects numerous people today. From this architectural building I came to the realization that society has endured countless transformations over every generation. Learning about other people’s views on a global spectrum allows one to realize society’s revolutions. Generation after generation experiences change. In the present, these changes appear to be ordinary, but when looking to the past, the world has altered in every state imaginable. The various buildings that are portrayed throughout Italy have survived to the present day because it is society’s attempt to close the generation gaps that separate the world today.