The Roman 'Aquarium'

Map

Roman Aquarium (Acquario Romano, 1885-87) by Ettore Bernich

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The Acquario Romano was designed by the Roman architect Ettore Bernich (1850-1914) and opened in 1887. The aquarium, with its elliptical hall and cast-iron gallery, now houses the Casa dell' Architettura. 

In the early 1880s Bernich assisted the English archaeologist John Henry Parker in some excavations behind the Pantheon, during the course of which a beautiful dolphin frieze was discovered. Bernich quotes the ancient Roman frieze in the entablature of his Acquario Romano.  

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Roman Aquarium

Dolphin and Trident Frieze, Basilica of Neptune