The Ara Pacis Augustae ranks among the most important and best preserved surviving monuments of Augustan period classic art. The Roman Senate commissioned it in 13 b.C. to honour the return of Emperor Augusto from Spain and it was finished in 9 b.C.. The Ara was within a marble enclosure adorned with fine sculptures of mithological stories and figures from Augusto’s dynasty. The altar inside the enclosure was also used for sacrifices.The monument was originally located on the via Faminia, on the northen part of the Campus Martius. Because of river Tiber’s frequent floods, the altar stood under meters of slit and many of its pieces are lost. In the 30s, two thousand years after the birth of Emperor Augusto, Arch. Moretti began the restoration of the Ara and, in 1938, it was located insidea a protective building along the Tiber.As the building was inadeguate for the protection of the altar, a new one was planned with the project of the American  Studio Richard Meier & Partners Architects, author of many important modern museums in the world. In 2006 the new complex of the Ara Pacis Museum was inaugurated. The event represents the most important modern architecture  example in Rome’s historic centre after the fascist period.