Borghese Gallery in the Villa Borghese, Rome
Posted On March 8, 2011
Regarded among the Rome’s best museums, the Borghese Gallery or the Galleria Borghese is surely a must visit attraction that is inside the gracious Villa Borghese nicely tucked on the Pincio Hills. Adorning the astounding Borghese Gardens, this museum houses several incredible Bernini’s marble sculptures as well as vital Borghese antiquities, figurines, and paintings specially made by the 17th century artist Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the Pope Paul V’s nephew. In addition, even the Villa Borghese is also famous among the tourists as this was the historical place where several of the expanding art collections were showcased, which were of Borghese – the Bernini’s patron and the zealous Caravaggio works collector.
Within the Borghese Gallery, there are 2 floors on which 20 rooms hold incredible Renaissance collections as well as the collections that belong to the early time after Christ. The main floor preserves the classical antiquities of the 1st to 4th centuries AD among which the main attractions are 4th century gladiators’ mosaic, neo-classical figurines, the ceiling fresco, as well as the vital art works of the paintings of the 17th century by Titian, Preti, Reni, Artemisia, Guercino, Domenichino, Baciccia, and Carracci.
However, what is the most famous among the tourists is the collection by the Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Kept in the totally dedicated art space, this one is the huge outcome that traces his judicious talent of secular carvings, which rooted in him during his youth. Look for the perfect pieces like the Truth unveiled by Time; Goat Amalthea with Faun as well as Infant Jupiter; and Daphne, David, and Apollo. Coming to the other artists, Baciccia’s mind-blowing fresco in the Jesus’s dome as well as the dual chandeliers in Murano glass resides here, maps of the world by Dutch cartographer Guglielmo Bleau are quite appealing, the paintings of Nativity and Last Supper by Jacopo Bassano are very impressive; and that Michelangelo Merisi’s (Caravaggio) St. John the Baptist in the Desert, Madonna, and David with the Head of Goliath are awesome.
Besides the above, the Borghese Gallery is also the home of a lovely collection that includes: Raphael’s Entombment of Christ, The Deposition, and Portrait of a Gentlewomen; Antonio Allegri called Correggio’s Danae; Dosso Dossi’s Circe or Melissa; Lucas Cranach’s Venus and Cupid; Orazio Gentileschi’s Madonna with the Child; Titian’s Sacred and Profane Love; Pietro Berrettini da Cortona’s The Triumph of Divine Providence; Lorenzo Lotto’s Madonna and Child with Saints; Beato Angelico’s Last Judgment; Piero della Francesca’s Flagellation; and Savoldo’s Tobias and the Angel. There are many more in this list; but is not that easy to add all here; so I am mentioning only a few ones.
Kindly do not complete your tour without taking a tour of the National Museum of Musical Instruments – the largest collection at the museum. Do not be surprise by that! Here, you will come across a stunning collection of instruments from the different zones of the world – western, Egyptian, America, Africa, Roman, Greek, and Oceania.
Lastly, spend some time at the gardens outside the Villa Borghese – a big cool green landscape featuring the English atmosphere. By the way, this is the city’s second largest park that offers many more highlights such as the Villa Giulia with its interior Etruscan Museum, a Gothic garden structure in the memory of the sculptor Pietro Canonica, and Villa Medici holding the French Academy.
Address
Piazza Capodiferro.
Timings
8.30 am to 7:30 pm daily: closed from Dec 25th to Jan 1st
Tours on Tuesdays-Saturdays: 9 am to 5 pm.
Tours on Sundays: 9 am to 1 pm.
Facilities
Cafeteria on the ground floor.
Shop on the ground floor besides the café, which vends posters, posters, guide books, catalogues, and other artifacts linked to the art works of the gallery.
Tickets
€6 (2010), but expect more if a special exhibition is showcased within.
Reservations
Compulsory.
