Pope Urban VIII, one of the most prominent cultural patrons in Roman history, understood that great cities are not frozen in time. He loved dreaming up lavish new projects over breakfast with his artistic soul mate, the Baroque sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini. When Bernini needed bronze for the baldachin in St. Peter’s, the pope simply ordered it torn out of the Pantheon. Neither was afraid to make his mark on the city...since then not much has happened, until now:Zaha Hadid designed Maxxi Museum, Rome's first National Museum of Contemporary Art and First National Museum of Architecture!
If Pope Urban were alive today, I’m certain he and Ms. Zaha Hadid would be having breakfast right now, plotting the next move...
