ROME.- A powerful presence from the ancient world is making its Roman debut. For the first time ever, the monumental bronze Neptune of Lyon is on view in the Italian capital, marking a major international loan and one of the most significant archaeological exhibitions of the year. From February 6 to June 7, 2026, the statue will be displayed at the Museo di scultura antica Giovanni Barracco, offering visitors a rare encounter with one of the greatest bronze masterpieces to survive from Roman Gaul.

Nearly life-size and striking in its presence, the statue depicts Neptune, god of the sea, emerging from the waters—his identity revealed by the distinctive “wet curls” of his hair. Discovered in 1859 in the waters of the Rhône River, the sculpture is the largest bronze representation of Neptune ever found in France and one of the most important surviving examples of Roman bronze statuary in the western provinces of the empire.

The work was created in the 3rd century CE by a local workshop in Lugdunum, today’s Lyon, then the capital of the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis and the administrative heart of Roman Gaul. Scholars believe the god originally held his iconic trident in one hand and possibly a dolphin in the other, following an iconography inherited from the Greek god Poseidon. Its original setting was likely a major civic temple, underscoring the statue’s ceremonial and symbolic importance in the ancient city.

The exhibition is the result of a prestigious cultural exchange between Rome and Lyon, developed in collaboration with the Lugdunum – Musée et Théâtres romains and the Métropole de Lyon. The loan coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Lyon museum, while simultaneously several masterpieces from the Barracco Museum are currently on display in France in the exhibition C’est canon. L’art chez les Romains.

Beyond the exceptional artwork itself, the exhibition also highlights a renewed chapter for the Barracco Museum. In recent months, the museum has undergone significant upgrades, transforming its ground-floor gallery into a dedicated space for high-profile temporary exhibitions. New visitor facilities, improved circulation, updated educational panels, and refreshed signage—both inside and outside the museum—now frame the Neptune’s Roman debut in a setting designed to enhance accessibility and understanding.

With this exhibition, Rome not only welcomes a god of the sea back to the heart of the ancient world, but also reinforces its role as a crossroads for international cultural dialogue—where masterpieces travel, histories intersect, and the past continues to speak with renewed force.