CONVENTIONS PALACE

PALAZZO DEI CONGRESSI

Piazza John Fitzgerald Kennedy

1938/43 Adalberto Libera (1903/63) who was able to complete it only in the years 1952/54 because of the war

1988/93 reconsolidated and restructured by Antonio Gallo Curcio (1932) e Paolo Portoghesi (1931)

It was originally built with reinforced concrete and a monumental façade in travertine marble

“It is divided by the superposition of two pure volumes, respectively a parallelepiped and a cube (...). It reaches the peak of the balance between modern composition and classical purity” (Giorgio Muratore)

“Among the buildings of the E42 made ​​for the competitions, the Palace of the Conventions was the only one who has succeeded in a modern interpretation of the constraints imposed by the competition itself. One should remember that Libera tried in every way to prevent the insertion of columns in the façade, but in the end he had to work out a compromise solution in which the columns, however, assume an abstract stylization and don't have any capitals” (Piero Ostilio Rossi)

ATRIUM

Frescoes “Origins of Rome” 1953 by Achille Funi (1890/1972) covered with panels by Gino Severini (1883/1966)

CONFERENCE HALL

Restored by Paolo Portoghesi (1931)

In the CAFETERIA there are mosaics by Angelo Canevari (1901/55)

Here took place the fencing competitions of the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960

In 1977 a terrorist attack damaged it on the eve of a conference of the right-wing Italian party Movimento Sociale Italiano

MOSQUE

MOSCHEA

Viale della Moschea

1984/92 Paolo Portoghesi (1931) and Vittorio Gigliotti (1921) in collaboration with Sami Moussawi. Inaugurated in 1995

It is the largest mosque in Europe. Area of 34,000 m² (8.4 acres) which includes the Islamic Cultural Centre

The vast prayer hall has a capacity of about 3,000 people

The minaret is the only one in the world without loudspeakers

The land was offered by the Italian Government in 1975. The project was primarily funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its King Faisal, but there were contributions from 23 Arab and Islamic countries. The Moroccan government sent skilled workers for the ceramic decorations

"The great expansion of Islam has produced architectural cultures that have marked differences between them, mixing the Islamic culture with the local traditions. (...) For this reason the Roman Mosque is the synthesis of various architectural models and clear intertwined traditions: from the Persian type, where there is a strong mediation between interior and exterior spaces, also used in Etruscan architecture, to the Ottoman mosques (Hagia Sophia) with the presence of the large central dome and the value of spatial unity. To resume Roman tradition highly symbolical materials have been used, such as tuff and white marble, but also the peristyle of the mosque recalls the arches of the imperial Fora of ancient Rome. (...) The small domes are inspired by Borromini but also Guarini and Vittone have strongly influenced the Mosque" (Paolo Portoghesi)

HOTEL MINERVA

HOTEL MINERVA

Piazza della Minerva 38

Original structure built in the seventeenth century for the Fonseca family of Portuguese origin. With their extinction at the beginning of 1800s it passed to the Conti family that decided to use it as a hotel and inaugurated it in 1832

Raised in late 1800s and renovated in 1924 with a CANTILEVER ROOF by Pier Luigi Nervi (1891/1979)

It was closed in 1978

It was restored in the years 1986/90 by Paolo Portoghesi (1931) and reopened in 1990 under the name Grand Hotel de la Minerve