Capitoline Museums

First off, if you can, try to be at the tabularium for sunset...the view is magical, especially during the low season when there aren't many visitors.

This is the main museum of the city of Rome. Paintings, bronzes, busts, coins, and archaeological artifacts are only some of what you’ll find here. The Capitoline Museums are found in the Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo in the highly-photogenic Piazza del Campidoglio.

In 1471, Pope Sixtus IV donated a large collection of bronzes from the

During our second visit to Rome, we visited the most important public museum in the world: the Capitoline. It has amazing rooms full of busts of famous people, paintings, the Capitoline She-Wolf with Romulus and Remus, a statue of Marcus Aurelius and his collection of medals, and the statue of the Dying Gaul. The Dying Gaul especially captured our attention and we stood there, slack-jawed, for what seemed like hours at the courage of this great Celtic warrior meant to symbolize the bravery of the French people.

The picture - a teenager sitting on a rock has a thorn in his foot removed, his expression is such that we feel his concentration. The subject is realistic and very careful. Its style has been dated to the III century but it's balanced nature and seriousness of the face are reminiscent of Hellenism that is more typical of the V century. This hodgepodge of features makes an interesting statue for art lovers but dating very difficult. It's been famous throughout the history of art, there are many copies of both antiquity and Renaissance and it's an essential work of the Capitoline Museums.