FROM THE SECOND WORLD WAR UNTIL THE PRESENT DAY
In June 1940 many works of art were protected, out of fear for air raids. In 1943 the area was evacuated, because an allied landing was feared (which would take place in Anzio in 1944). The museum was closed. It was reopened on June 12 1945 (see the press statement of the Allied Forces). Guido Calza died in 1946. Shortly before his death he had married Raissa Gurevich, a Russian ballet dancer, the ex-wife of the Italian painter De Chirico. She became an expert in the field of sculpture. The Warehouse of Epagathus and Epaphroditus, the Small Market with the adjacent Via Tecta, and rooms in the podium of the Capitolium were used as store rooms. A second entrance to the excavations was created near the Laurentine Gate. It could be accessed from a panoramic road to the south of the excavations, named after Calza. The ticket office, long in disuse, can still be seen.
Many paintings and mosaics were detached, to be placed on modern panels and then fastened on their original location. Wooden ceilings were sometimes built to protect the paintings, for example in the House of the Muses. For the proper drainage of the site the ancient channels below the roads were cleaned. Pine-trees and cypresses were planted to make the site more attractive.
Excavations have continued, but on a small scale, carried out with extreme care. At the end of the 20th century extensive geophysical research was carried out, in Ostia, Portus, and on the Isola Sacra. Summarizing the tremendous flow of publications would necessitate a book.
With limited financial means the Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica today maintains a vast area, also outside the fenced-off part.
Statues protected by sandbags in 1940. Photo: Parco Archeologico di Ostia.
A bunker near the museum. Here objects from the museum were stored during WW II.
Nostalgia. The old ticket office near the Roman Gate. Photo: Klaus Heese.
Restoration of paintings. Photo: Parco Archeologico di Ostia.
Restoration of mosaics. Photo: Centro di Conservazione Archeologica.
Excavation. Photo: Gerard Huissen.