Time of Rome: Topography of Eternity

On September 10, 2024, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow) hosted a presentation of the Catalog of the large-scale exhibition Three Times of Rome. Antiquity. Renaissance. Baroque. Within its framework, a fascinating discussion unfolded, summing up the results of this exhibition project. The exposition, almost entirely based on Roman view engravings of the 16th – 18th centuries — a refined and exclusive material, — unexpectedly aroused wide interest, gathering a record number of visitors for the holiday season. The article makes an attempt to analyze the reasons for its popularity, as well as to summarize the issues raised by it.