Portraits of the Republican Era in the Halls of the Columns of the Capitoline Museums in the former Giovanni Montemartini Thermoelectric Centre in Rome Italy. In a long gallery a series of portraits dating to the 1st century BC are disposed, giving an impression of individuals from various social classes. Freedmans and members of the plebeian classes are shown alone or in family groups in funerary reliefs as well as portraits of famous people like Caesar, Augustus and Agrippa. The Hall of the Columns takes its name from the numerous pillars of reinforced cement which once supported the three boilers of Montemartini Thermoelectric Centre in the hall above. The history of the Museum began in 1997 with the transfer of hundreds of sculptures into the new location during the restructuring works of the Capitoline complex converting it after the great success in a permanent exhibition. It is an extraordinary example of industrial archaeology converted into a museum for classical art.
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