Art and architecture, accessibility and sustainability, and dozens of extraordinary works and hidden treasures held in the museum’s archives: these are the themes that will shape the “future story” of Galleria Borghese. The goal is to ensure that one of the most significant and sensitive sites in Italy’s national and international cultural heritage can be experienced in a way that is informed, accessible, and respectful. This is the driving purpose behind the International Architecture Competition for the design of a new museum pavilion, presented this morning in Rome, a project that marks a turning point in the museum’s history and in its relationship with the city. The initiative is promoted by Galleria Borghese with the technical sponsorship of Proger S.p.A., Italy’s leading independent engineering firm, and with the support of the Municipality of Rome. At its core is a simple but ambitious idea: one of Europe’s most extraordinary museums deserves spaces worthy of its collection and of the public that, year after year, seeks to visit it.

“A great past is only useful if it helps design an even greater future. Otherwise, it is dust. This spirit drives Proger, and this idea of culture as an engine of progress led us to propose to Galleria Borghese and to the city of Rome a competition among some of the world’s finest architects, aimed at improving the usability and accessibility of one of the most beautiful museums on earth,” said Marco Lombardi, CEO of Proger. “Fulfilling the social role of a business, Proger has offered to fund and oversee the development of an expansion project, asking nothing in return beyond the advancement of Italy and Europe. It is what hundreds of masterpieces deserve, works that merit display but remain in storage. It is what the hundred thousand visitors who cannot secure a ticket every year deserve. It is what people with reduced mobility deserve, who today struggle to navigate the corridors and floors of this magnificent seventeenth-century gallery. The city deserves it. And above all, Europe deserves it, a continent that has made art and culture its defining mark. At Proger, we are the project managers who brought art and culture to the public squares of Saudi Arabia, making it accessible to all through the creation of the largest contemporary art exhibition in history: Riyadh Art. We are proud to have reignited a debate in Italy, one I hope will be frank and honest, between those who believe that progress is not at odds with the preservation of history, and those who hold that nothing can be changed without disturbing some kind of miraculous equilibrium. Stasis for its own sake“.

The competition is structured in two phases. The first is open to architecture and engineering firms from around the world, who are invited to submit their candidacies. Five finalists will then be selected and invited to take part in the design phase. This second phase will be conducted in strict anonymity through the certified platform CAN (Competition Architecture Network) of the Order of Architects of Rome and Province, with a judging panel composed of independent professionals and internationally recognized experts.

The entire process is subject to the binding approval of the Urban Planning, Environment, and Culture Departments of the Municipality of Rome, as well as the Rome Superintendency, in full compliance with all the heritage protection constraints applicable to Villa Borghese as a landscape, historical, and cultural asset of national significance.