Museo delle Mura

The Museum of the Walls is headquartered in San Sebastiano Gates, one of the largest and best preserved of the Aurelian walls. The current exhibition, which opened in 1990, takes place on the first and second floors, is divided into three sections - ancient, medieval and modern - and consists of information panels with texts that serve as support color drawings and photographs. In the panels is the history of the town fortifications, the royal and republican ages to the Aurelian of the third century. A.D. The latter describes the historical and political events that led to their building, and strategic reasons for the choice of the path; They are then analyzed the construction technique, the type of doors and then the restoration and subsequent transformations. The circular hall on the first floor contains models of the various construction phases of the Aurelian walls, and one that shows the schematic map of Rome with the traces of its fortifications. In the other two sections, medieval and modern, located on the second floor, it takes over the narration of the historical and architectural history of the Aurelian walls pointing to the Middle Ages the different relationship developed between them and the town, now respectful to the progressive decrease of the population. On the walls of two of the museum are hung plaster casts of the crosses carved in stone above the entrance arches of some doors. The casts also illustrate the crosses, palmettes and wheel patterns made with bricks by the workers during the construction of the walls. E 'can also access the terrace on the central the gate between the two towers and that in the western tower.