The City of the Sun. Baroque Art and Scientific Thought in the Rome of Urban VIII

16 November 2023 - 11 February 2024

Palazzo Barberini, temporary exhibitions area - ground floor, south wing

curated by Filippo Camerota, with the collaboration of Marcello Fagiolo

* The exhibition is organized by Museo Galileo in collaboration with the Gallerie Nazionali d’Arte Antica, the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Rome and the Centro di Studi sulla Cultura e l’Immagine in Rome, under the sponsorship of the Municipality of Rome and the National Committee for the celebrations of the fourth centenary of the election of Pope Urban VIII.

The fourth centenary of Pope Urban VIII’s pontificate (1623-1644) ends with an exhibition dedicated to the partnership between the arts and sciences fostered by Barberini’s patronage. Maffeo Barberini’s election was acclaimed by the scientific world as “an admirable conjuncture”, an event that would provide extraordinary opportunities for the advancement of the sciences. Enthusiasm was ignited by Pope Barberini’s good relations with the scientists of his time and, above all, by his friendship with Galileo Galilei. One of the first scientific works that welcomed Urban VIII’s election was Galilei’s Il Saggiatore (1623), dedicated to the pontiff by the Lyncean academicians in the hope of promoting dialogue on new astronomical discoveries.
The exhibition unfolds and creatively interweaves the works by the protagonists of the three major scientific hubs in Rome — the Roman College of the Jesuits, the Accademia dei Lincei and the Convent of the Minims at Trinità dei Monti — and the work of some of the most celebrated artists of Baroque Rome, the “City of the Sun,” as it is fair to call it in reference to the Barberini pontificate.

OPENING HOURS: Tuesday – Sunday, 10.00 a.m. – 7.00 p.m., last entrance at 6.00 p.m.
CLOSED 25 December and 1 January; every Monday
TICKET PRICES: Full Ticket: 7 euro | Reduced Ticket: 3 euro – at least 15 people groups and students groups; 6 – 18 year old visitors; partnership members | Free: children 5 and under; visitors presenting a Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica ticket or Museo Galileo ticket; teachers accompanying their students; ICOM members with current ICOM card; tour guides with current ID; journalists with current press card; people with disabilities and one care partner accompanying a visitor with a disability.
ONLINE TICKETING: Vivaticket