An architectural plan to expand one of Rome's most famous museums, the Borghese Gallery, should be ready by the end of the year, backers of the project said on Monday, stressing that nothing has yet been decided.
Several conservation groups and historians have opposed the idea of erecting a new structure near a 17th century villa inside the Villa Borghese park and home to masterpieces by Bernini, Caravaggio, Raphael and Titian.
The Gallery says a new building would allow it to ease overcrowding, offer space for dozens of artworks currently in storage, and provide much-needed extra facilities like a conference room.
The museum is planning to hold an international architecture competition to collect ideas for the expansion, with the proviso that the new structure should be close to the original villa, not necessarily within its heritage-protected park.
"We hope to have a winner (of this competition) by the end of the year," the CEO of Proger, the Italian engineering company that is sponsoring the competition with an 875,000 euro ($1 million) grant, said in a news conference.
"We will gift this (architectural) project to the Borghese Gallery, to the Culture Ministry, to the City of Rome, and they will decide whether it is valid and therefore whether it will go ahead or not," CEO Marco Lombardi said.
CONSERVATIONISTS THREATEN LEGAL ACTION
The Friends of Villa Borghese and Italia Nostra associations are threatening legal action, arguing that any new construction would upset the delicate balance between art and nature that has characterised the museum for more than four centuries.
Borghese Gallery Director Francesca Cappelletti assured that any enlargement of the museum would be done "with caution, sensitivity and in full compliance with (heritage protection) constraints."
"Nobody is going to wake up one morning and decide to build something in the garden," she said. "This seems to me a truly absurd simplification of all the work that is being done here daily."
Meanwhile, access to the Gallery remains tightly controlled.
No more than 180 people are allowed in for two-hour time slots. Visitors need to book weeks in advance, or brave long queues for a limited number of same-day "last minute" tickets.
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