Museo di Palazzo Doria Pamphilj
The Museum is divided into two thematic sections arranged on two floors. The ground floor houses the archaeological section, illustrating and documenting the sites found during the excavations prior to construction work on the high-speed railway line that runs through the territory of Valmontone. The five rooms of the section are devoted to each of the areas investigated during the excavations, equipped with a learning system, and covering a time span that ranges from the fourth century BC to the fourth century AD. The latest acquisition is an interesting tomb dating back to between the fourth and third centuries BC, discovered accidentally in Colle Solomon and awaiting restoration. The art history section is represented by the series of beautiful frescoes housed in the eleven rooms on the piano nobile (first floor) of the Palace. The iconographic programme of the series of paintings focuses on representations of the allegories of the Four Elements and the Four Continents. The tour ends with the Salone del Principe, completely painted in trompe l'oeil by Gaspard Dughet and Guillaume Courtois, and two small chapels with depictions of Saint Agnes and God the Father. This series, commissioned by Camillo Pamphili, was carried out between 1658 and 1659 by some of the major artists of the time, such as Francesco Cozza, Pierfrancesco Mola, the abovementioned Dughet and Courtois, Giambattista Tassi and Mattia Preti, who was called in to decorate the Volta dell’Aria in 1661.
