Protests Mar Unveiling Of Modern Monument In Rome

[Viggen]

Rome unveiled the first modern building to rise in its ancient historic centre in decades on Friday while critics dressed as Roman gladiators protested against "the petrol station on the Tiber". Renowned U.S. architect Richard Meier was on hand for the partial inauguration of the minimalist glass, marble and steel Ara Pacis museum, built to house the Altar of Peace monument erected by Augustus in the 1st century BC.

 

"It's an amazing step. It brings Rome into the 21st century with architecture of the 21st century," Meier told Reuters Television at the gala ceremony. Unlike the ancient artists who completed the monument's famous marble friezes in four years, Meier has been struggling to build the museum complex for a decade amid budget squabbles and street protests against the "Los Angelesation" of Rome.

 

full article at Swiss Politics.org