Pangea Guides

It is a magnificent patrician house with beautiful gardens. It was built by order of Cardinal Alessando Albani in 1743-1763 in order to accommodate his collection of art. The collection was taken care by the Winkelmann, adviser and friend of the cardinal. In Rome, Winkelmann wrote his "Geschichte der Kunst des Altertumns (History of the Art of Antiquity)", which made him the founder of classical archaeology. The painted ceiling of the great hall depicting Mount Parnassus is by the German painter Anton Raphael Mengs.