Torlonia Museum

The Torlonia Museum (Italian: Museo Torlonia; not identical with the Villa Torlonia on the Via Nomentana) was a museum in Rome, which housed the Torlonia Collection (Collezione Torlonia) of ancient sculptures.

The collection of 620 marble and alabaster statues and sarcophagi dating to the Roman Empire period has been described as the “most important private museum of sculpture in the world” by Italian art critic Federico Zeri and, according to The Daily Telegraph, has been “said to rival [the ancient sculptures] of the Vatican.” The Encyclopædia Britannica considers the most significant of the works a relief of Heracles freeing Theseus and Peirithoos (4th century BC, attributed to the school of Phidias) and a sculpture of “Hestia Giustiniani” (5th century BC, attributed to Kalamis). Overall, the collection contains 20 statues of Hercules, about 30 of Venus, and 100 of the Caesars and their families, among them a bust of Julius Caesar. Besides, it includes sculptures of the gods from Roman mythology and Roman copies of Greek statues.