A Curious Canon: Modeling Triumphal Arches for Mussolini

Presenters

Kimberly Cassibry, Wellesley College

Abstract

Mussolini's Mostra Augustea della Romanità (Augustan Exhibition of Romanity, 1937–1938) showcased the Roman Empire’s art and architecture in a novel way. Rather than borrowing artifacts internationally, the curator Giulio Quirino Giglioli commissioned hundreds of replicas, including plaster casts and architectural models. The exhibit placed special emphasis on triumphal arches, which were represented not only in casts and models, but also in a photomontage, and in the design of the show’s entrance. Giglioli’s catalog describes the aims of the exhibition, as do reviews, and the replicas are now housed at the Museo della Civiltà Romana.

Prior studies have addressed the exhibit’s role in connecting Italy’s Roman past to its fascist future and the triumphal arch’s symbolism in fascist propaganda. This paper refocuses attention on the exhibit’s models of triumphal arches, which have not been analyzed as a group. Contextualizing the models’ creation offers new insights into the regime’s layered reception of the Roman Empire’s most characteristic monument.

Whereas earlier sets of models had prioritized Rome’s arches for Titus, Septimius Severus, and Constantine, the exhibit included over twenty additional ones. The monuments selected had been dedicated to Rome’s emperors by communities in northern Italy, Greece, France, Spain, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, and Turkey. This radically expanded canon of arch models demonstrated ancient Rome’s Mediterranean-wide influence and territorial claims, while also featuring arches recently excavated by Italian archaeologists in colonial Libya. The expanded canon also visualized an ancient precedent for the construction of new triumphal arches promoting Italian imperialism abroad (e.g., the Libyan Arch of the Philaeni). Although such full-scale fascist arches have been destroyed, rededicated, or left to rot, the exhibit’s miniature models have recently been conserved and featured in a special exhibition. Their preservation and ongoing use illustrate the varied fates and enduring legacies of the fascist regime’s archaeologically entangled creations.