MAXXI National Museum of the 21st Century Arts
MAXXI is Italy’s first national museum dedicated to contemporary creativity, housing collections in art, architecture, and photography.
Planning your visit
MAXXI was Zaha Hadid's first major Italian building and won the Stirling Prize in 2010: a complex of interlocking concrete tubes and ramps in the Flaminio district, with curving galleries that flow into one another and a suspended black staircase crossing the central void. The architecture is assertive enough that exhibiting in it is a challenge curators discuss openly.
The museum holds two collections. MAXXI Arte covers Italian and international contemporary art from the later twentieth century onward. MAXXI Architettura is more unusual — a national archive of Italian architecture holding the papers, drawings and models of major twentieth-century architects including Carlo Scarpa, Pier Luigi Nervi and Aldo Rossi, which makes it a research institution as much as a display space.
Photography is the third strand.
Rome's museum offering is overwhelmingly ancient and Renaissance, and MAXXI is the deliberate counterweight. It sits north of the centre near the Auditorium. Allow two hours. Bookable options include audio guides. Current availability is listed below.
Before you book
Where is MAXXI National Museum of the 21st Century Arts?
MAXXI National Museum of the 21st Century Arts is in Rome, Italy.
How long should I allow for MAXXI National Museum of the 21st Century Arts?
Allow two hours. That is the time the collection itself takes at an unhurried pace, before any queue.
Do I need to book MAXXI National Museum of the 21st Century Arts in advance?
The audio-guide option can normally be added on arrival, though booking ahead secures the date.
