Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI Museum

Rome’s MAXXI Museum – Italy’s National Museum of Arts of the XXI Century, was designed by none other than architect extraordinaire, Zaha Hadid. It weaves a journey of exploration that spans architecture and the contemporary arts in a city synonymous with both from the ancient world. The premier national museum of contemporary arts in Italy, it is well worth jotting down in your little book of ‘things to do in Rome’.

Built upon on the site of a former military barracks and working within the geometric grids that regulate the urban structure of Rome, the MAXXI Museum is a showcase of explorative architecture that merges interior and exterior spaces through the use of bridges, a glass roof, fluid concrete walls and the seamless combination of two distinct institutions: MAXXI Art and MAXXI Architecture.

The curved, concrete exterior of the MAXXI Museum protects an interior world dedicated to the exploration and preservation of art and architecture through collections, conservation and study. MAXXI Art is home to over 300 works by artists including Warhol, Boetti, Kapoor, Celemente and Richter, while the MAXXI Architecture collection features personal archives from the likes of Carlo Scarpa and Aldo Rossi, as well as porjects by Toyo Ito, Italo Rota and Giancarlo De Carlo.

A striking space that plays with natural light and dimensions, the interior is just as unexpected, segmented and yet fluidly connected as the exterior, and both prompt the excitable desire for exploration.

A multi-functional urban space complete with an auditorium, library, bookshop and café, we can see you perched here one morning, sipping an espresso, and reading up on some of the fabulous artists and architects you are about to see.

Editor’s Journal Edit

For more on all things Rome, have a peek in our Travel Journal at pieces on Fendi’s latest offices in architectural statements, the Square Colosseum; search our Rome Design Guide and for more dens that simply ooze cultured cool and style, have a look in our Culture Kids Edit for more hotspots to float your boat. Then for more Zaha Hadid moments near our hotels in Italy, you can also look at her Cilento Seascape, in Cilento and the Messner Mountain Museum in South Tyrol.