Museum of the Ara Pacis

The Museum of the Ara Pacis (Italian: Museo dell'Ara Pacis) belongs to the Sistema dei Musei in Comune of Rome (Italy); it houses the Ara Pacis of Augustus, an ancient monument that was initially inaugurated on 30 January 9 B.C. History The museum's first building was designed by architect Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo and completed in 1938, during the Fascist era, as part of Mussolini's reconfiguration of Piazza Augusto Imperatore. This location was chosen for the museum due to its proximity to the Mausoleum of Augustus and the newly built surrounding rationalist architecture . In 1996 the then mayor of Rome, Francesco Rutelli , entrusted the American architect Richard Meier with the construction of a new museum, without any architectural competition. Morpurgo's building was demolished and the current building opened to the public, after seven years.