Roman remains: Rome's long-awaited and vigorously debated new Ara Pacis Museum by Richard Meier is nearing completion.After 11 years in the making, Richard Meier's Ara Pacis Ara Pacis (Augustae) (Latin; “Augustan Altar of Peace”) State monument built by Caesar Augustus in Rome's Campus Martius (13–9 BC) to commemorate his victorious return from Spain and Gaul. It consists of an altar on a podium enclosed by walls. Museum is finally set to open in the spring of this year. The first major work of contemporary architecture in Rome's designated Historic Centre, it is a significant building that has aroused not always favourable interest in many quarters, from learned specialists such as architects, archaeologists, historians and planners, to the more general, vociferous populus Romanus. When Meier originally revealed his proposals, they were denounced by some in the local architecture community as the 'Los Angelization of Rome'. Due for completion in 2000, the project was seriously delayed after Italy's flamboyant former deputy of culture, Vittorio Sgarbi, attacked it as an affront to the city's heritage. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ironically, the object of all this public consternation was originally conceived to mark a longed for era of peace and stability in an empire exhausted by war. Consecrated con·se·crate tr.v. con·se·crat·ed, con·se·crat·ing, con·se·crates 1. To declare or set apart as sacred: consecrate a church. 2. Christianity a. in 9BC by Augustus Caesar to mark his victories in Gaul and Spain, the Ara Pacis (altar of peace) is an unparalleled surviving masterpiece of Classical sculpture Classical sculpture refers to the forms of sculpture from Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome and the Hellenized, and Romanized civilizations under their rule or influence from about 500B.C. to fall of Rome in AD 476. , with finely worked bas reliefs depicting a picturesque array of allegorical, historical and mythological scenes in idealised Adj. 1. idealised - exalted to an ideal perfection or excellence idealized perfect - being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish; "a perfect circle"; "a perfect reproduction"; "perfect happiness"; "perfect manners"; "a perfect specimen"; "a , Grecian manner. Meier's new building replaces an existing structure dating from the late 1930s by Italian architect Vittorio Morpurgo, a favourite of the Fascist regime. As well as providing a more efficient and dignified protective enclosure for the ancient altar on its original site on the western edge of Piazza Augusto Imperatore, it also incorporates a new 700sqm space that will house temporary exhibitions on archaeological and historic themes. An external roof terrace offers views across to the adjacent Mausoleum of Augustus The Mausoleum of Augustus was a large tomb built by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 28 BC on the Campus Martius in Rome. The Mausoleum, now located on the Piazza Augusto Imperatore, continues to be open to tourists, although the ravages of time and carelessness have stripped the in its piazza, and the River Tiber. Plans are afoot by the Comune di Roma to partly pedestrianise the Piazza Augusto, so unifying museum and mausoleum mausoleum (môsəlē`əm), a sepulchral structure or tomb, especially one of some size and architectural pretension, so called from the sepulcher of that name at Halicarnassus, Asia Minor, erected (c.352 B.C. more intimately Contemplating Meier's typically elegant but not exactly challenging essay in glass, concrete and travertine travertine (trăv`ərtĭn, –tēn), form of massive calcium carbonate, CaCO3, resulting from deposition by springs or rivers. , it seems hard to understand what all the fuss has been about, but this is clearly a site and monument unfairly burdened with historical baggage from several eras. Yet despite its squeamishness squea·mish adj. 1. a. Easily nauseated or sickened. b. Nauseated. 2. Easily shocked or disgusted. 3. Excessively fastidious or scrupulous. towards the contemporary, the Eternal City does seem to be loosening up a bit, witnessed by the recent completion of Renzo Piano's concert hall complex (AR May 2003) and Meier's Jubilee Church The Jubilee Church, formally known as Dio Padre Misericordioso, is a church and community center in Tor Tre Teste in Rome. According to Richard Meier, its architect, it is "the crown jewel of the Vicariato di Roma's (Archdiocese of Rome) Millennium project" (p. 354). (AR April 2004), with Zaha Hadid's new Contemporary Arts Centre still to come. During the long construction period, the altar had to be protected and hidden from public view, but was ceremonially unveiled for the first time in six years last September on the occasion of Augustus' birthday. Now it is re-veiled with a transparent protective cover which will finally be removed for the building's formal opening on 21 April, traditionally regarded as the date of Rome's founding in 753 BC. 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