**AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME**

The American Academy in Rome respectfully requests a grant of \$322,993
over four years in support of a project that will promote postgraduate
research, exchanges and increase knowledge of the legacy of ancient Rome
to the modern world \-- a subject that is of inexhaustible historical
and cultural relevance to our own time and place. This legacy is as vast
and complicated as the Roman Empire itself, and includes much of the
present-day Islamic world as well as Europe and the Americas. The
Academy project addresses this legacy by focusing on architecture and
the built environment. The project will encompass: residencies for
distinguished American scholars in a wide range of disciplines; library
acquisitions and the cataloguing of unique photographic study
collections; a series of scholarly conferences and related exhibitions
and publications.

Founded in 1894, the American Academy in Rome
([www.aarome.org](http://www.aarome.org/)) is one of the leading
American overseas centers for independent study and advanced research
for artists and scholars, including professors from the Academy's ninety
or more Member Institutions. Each year the Academy offers up to thirty
Rome Prize fellowships in the following disciplines: Architecture,
Design, Historic Preservation and Conservation, Landscape Architecture,
Literature, Musical Composition, Visual Arts, and in humanistic
approaches to Ancient Studies, Medieval Studies, Renaissance and Early
Modern Studies, and Modern Italian Studies. These Fellows are joined in
Rome by a select group of Residents and other visiting artists and
scholars, forming a residential community of over 125 individuals. The
Academy sponsors exhibitions, concerts, lectures, symposia and other
events, as well as summer programs and archaeological research, and
publishes scholarly works and exhibition catalogs.

The Academy is located on the Janiculum hill in Rome and occupies 18
buildings on 11 acres of land. The facilities have been entirely
renovated, enhancing the physical spaces, ensuring accessibility, and
meeting the needs of the Academy's constituencies. The main building
provides residential and working accommodations for the Academy's
Fellows, Residents and visitors, and also houses the Library, an
exhibition gallery, a lecture hall, archaeological lab, dark room,
computer room, living area that serves for many social and intellectual
gatherings, dining hall, and administrative offices. The newly renovated
Villa Aurelia boasts a state-of-the-art conference facility with seating
for 220.

The Academy's Library is recognized as one of the finest in the world
for classical studies and archaeology. Its collection of 129,000 volumes
ranks among the world's richest holdings in the fields of classical
archaeology and art, ancient history, Greek and Latin languages and
literature, Roman topography, epigraphy, numismatics, and ancient
religions. There is a strong secondary collection in medieval and modern
history of art and architecture in Italy. The Photographic Archive,
which includes the noted Fototeca Unione founded by Ernest Nash, is a
study collection of over 40,000 positive prints recording the
architecture and topography of ancient Italy and the Roman Empire.