The "Danteum" should have been a building designed in 1938 by two eminent Italian architects, Giuseppe Terragni and Pietro Lingeri. Today, it is well known for the allegoric organization of space following Dante's Divine Comedy. Because of Mussolini's decline during World War II, the project has never been realized and thus has become one of the best known never finished modern projects.
The Danteum was a project that was envisioned to carry out the celebration of words of Dante, considered a primary source for Mussolini’s creations. It was to promote, in Italy and abroad, courses on Dante and to help initiatives that foster the character of Imperial fascist Italy . The Danteum, as many nationalistic monuments, glorified the arts along with politics, and rendered them transparent. Building function was to house the museum and the library, containing all available editions of Dante. As Dante represented both medieval and ancient for Terragni, he chose the relationship of medieval to ancient as a primary inspirational idea. He incorporated this notion into the Danteum site and the building program. Set of watercolors were prepared as a presentation material to describe the spatial qualities and experience of the building.
