National Roman Museum of the Diocletian Baths: View into the garden of the cloister

Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano (National Roman Museum of Diocletian Bath) was opened in 1889 and is an important collection of ancient sculpture and epigraphy. Housed within the imposing Diocletian complex, the exhibits are located in some halls of the Baths of Diocletian and in the rooms of the suppressed (in 1870) Carthusian monastery including the cloister. The original collection was formed from the Museo Kircheriano, a collection assembled by the antiquarian Athanasius Kircher, and from the Museo Ludovisi in 1621-1623. Many discoveries were added from excavations in the 1870s. The Cloister was built in 1565 and is ascribed to Michelangelo. The arcades are supported by 100 travertine columns. The full perimeter of the cloister is 320 m.