Fifty years ago, Aldo Rossi proposed the need to conceive an architecture for museums,1 embracing the famous phrase Paul Cézanne offered from the realm of art: "I paint only for museums." For the Italian architect, Cézanne was clearly referring to a painting style that follows a rigorous logical development and is situated within the logic of painting that is specifically verified in museums.
Within the context of Italian rationalism at the time, it is in the museum that the logic and rigor of a project are tested. According to Rossi, this is where architecture resides in its most elevated and autonomous form. In his definition, the built building is merely the subsequent transformation and adaptation, by technicians, of these museum pieces "to the multiple functions and requirements to which they must be applied." 2
