Rome is an ancient city. You'd think it was walkable, which it is, but it's always best to tackle it in quadrants and to take your time while you do it...in the ancient city, an afternoon at the baths would have been a nice respite from the heat of the day and in 298 AD Emperor Diocletian decided to take 32 acres and build the good citizens of Rome new facilities. Today, a part of the building remains as Santa Maria of the Angels, the remainder of the complex is one of Rome's four great National Museums incorporating the cloister of the charterhouse attributed to Michelangelo.
Entering the courtyard right across the Roma Termini.
The museum built into the ruins.
The front garden with a huge antique urn.
A model showing the entire site.
The hall to the cloister is lined with sculpture and some remnants of frescoes.
The main stairs
A wonderful mosaic of an athlete
There are these amazingly beautiful terracotta ladies. Almost lifesize all seated on wonderful Roman chairs. The features are sensitively rendered.
A fresco of a monk in his study greets you in the cloister
100 arches on four sides create the cloister designed by Michelangelo, but built posthumously.
Staues and sarcophagi line the halls while a lovely garden and fountain are guarded by antique wild beasts.
Detail of a sarcophagus
The newest section of the museum to open is the calderium
One of two funerary crypts moved to the site in the late 50's and entirely restored.
A view of the vast space which would have been decorated with colorful marbles
A section still under restoration and not yet open to the general public
Be sure to visit this and the Palazzo Massimo along with the Palazzo Altemps, you can buy a 3 day pass to the four National Museums. The least interesting of the four is the Crypta Balbi so leave that one for last.
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