From the Guardian:
"It is a buzz that mayor Walter Veltroni wants back, prompting him to hand over the keys to a second Roman temple, the Ara Pacis, originally built to honour the conquest of France by Augustus. Valentino will host a 300-dress exhibition of his best works in the temple."
Following the news for the Ara Pacis museum as closely as we do here, it seems obvious that the new museum was really pushed by Veltroni specifically for these kinds of events. No wonder the altar had spaces designed for exhibitions and a theater. A lot people - and many Italians obviously - may not like Meier's work on a personal level (which is really not much of an argument anyway) - but he can't be blamed for shoe-horning in elements that probably would have been left out if the building wasn't intended to serve several purposes from the beginning.
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