Memorials, indeed, are not
wanting at every step, and from the first window of the staircase as the
visitor ascends to the museum on the first floor he may look down on the
Tarpeian Rock.
The public functionaries of all sorts here do so much of their work in a
manner which gives rise to much discontentment among the Romans, and
would by the people of better-ruled countries be deemed wholly
intolerable, that it is a pleasure to be able to say that upon this
occasion the municipality has done what it had to do thoroughly well.
The galleries and rooms of the new establishment are decorated in
admirably good taste in the Pompeian style, the walls being colored in
panels and borders of blue and red on a buff ground. They are
excellently well lighted, and the visitor is not hunted round the rooms
by an attendant anxious only to get his tedious task over, but is
allowed to wander about among the treasures around him at his own
discretion, and to spend the whole day there, or as much of it as lies
between 10 A.M. and 3 P.M., if he pleases. A sufficient catalogue,
accompanied by a map of the place, is purchasable at the doors for a
couple of francs, and the visitor is required to pay half a franc for
his entrance. This last regulation is in accordance with a law recently
passed by the legislature establishing an entrance-fee at the doors of
all public galleries and museums throughout Italy. Heretofore the
entrance to all such places was entirely free.
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