THE AUGUSTEAN BIMILLENNIAL: FROM FASCISM TO THE PRESENT (1937-2014). APPROACHES FOR A CRITICAL ANALYSIS
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Abstract
The following essay aims to review in a critical way the most significant stages of the museographic projects celebrated during the commemorations of the 2000th anniversary of the birth (1937) and the death (2014) of Octavian Augustus. Through a diachronic narrative, we will analize firstly the instrumentalization of the fascist regime in the creation of an Augustus “founder” of the Roman Empire and its subsequent identification with Mussolini, and, secondly, we will study the most important event of the decade: the Mostra Augustea della Romanità. Subsequently, the protagonist will become the exhibition dedicated to the Princeps in Rome in 2013, and then in Paris the following year, in the framework of the celebrations of the bimillennial of the death of the sovereign. Finally, we will propose a critical analysis of the evolution of the exhibitions described above and we will try to examine the strengths and limitations of these world-class proposals.