Nov 28, 2011 12:52 PM
While in Rome. PRESTON T. PHILLIPS PHOTOS
Since missing the opening of the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati in 2003, I have long anticipated visiting a building designed by Zaha Hadid.
On a recent trip to Rome my goal was realized by visiting her Museo Nazionale Delle Arti, also known as “MAXXI.”
The museum opened last year to great acclaim. To suggest that it was near the top of my list (after the refurbished Sistine Chapel, the Pantheon and Borromini’s St. Ivo Chapel) would be an understatement.
Rome does not wear new architecture well, as evidenced by Richard Meier’s recent Modernist Envelope on the banks of the Tiber (the bane of all Romans), which is why putting the MAXXI a 15-minute taxi ride from the Vatican is key to its grudging local acceptance. Out of sight, out of... more
On a recent trip to Rome my goal was realized by visiting her Museo Nazionale Delle Arti, also known as “MAXXI.”
The museum opened last year to great acclaim. To suggest that it was near the top of my list (after the refurbished Sistine Chapel, the Pantheon and Borromini’s St. Ivo Chapel) would be an understatement.
Rome does not wear new architecture well, as evidenced by Richard Meier’s recent Modernist Envelope on the banks of the Tiber (the bane of all Romans), which is why putting the MAXXI a 15-minute taxi ride from the Vatican is key to its grudging local acceptance. Out of sight, out of... more
