Museo delle Civiltà, History museum in EUR district, Rome, Italy.
The Museo delle Civiltà is a history museum housed in two rationalist buildings on Piazza Guglielmo Marconi in the EUR district of Rome. Its collections cover prehistoric times, Africa, the Americas, Asia, Oceania, folk arts, medieval artifacts, and objects from the colonial period.
The Museo delle Civiltà was created in 2016 by three decrees of culture minister Dario Franceschini, uniting four national museums already based on Piazza Guglielmo Marconi: the prehistoric-ethnographic, folk arts and traditions, early Middle Ages and oriental art museums. The African and national geological museums were added later. In 2022 director Andrea Viliani replaced the "museum of museums" structure with an interdisciplinary anthropological museum that also shows contemporary art.
The museum displays objects from Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania that show how people lived and worked across these regions. Everyday items sit alongside art forms and crafts, making the collections feel grounded in real human experience.
The museum is close to EUR Fermi metro station, making it easy to reach by public transport. The galleries span several floors across the two buildings, so allow enough time to move through the different sections at a comfortable pace.
The two buildings were designed for the 1942 Esposizione Universale, which never took place because of World War II. The Palazzo delle Scienze was meant for a Mostra della scienza universale, and the Palazzo delle tradizioni popolari for a folk arts display; the latter museum only opened in 1956.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,341 contributors worldwide.