With its opening in November 2025, the ISEUM — the Temple of Isis and Serapis in the Campus Martius —has brought to light one of ancient Rome’s most evocative sacred sites.
The restoration and enhancement project, made possible thanks to the investment and support of Ecoluxury and Viaggi dell’Elefante, now allows visitors to immerse themselves in the Egyptian history and culture that profoundly influenced the capital for centuries.
The exhibition space offers an immersive experience into the past, featuring artifacts, symbols, and evidence of the cult of Isis, restoring a fundamental chapter of the city’s ancient memory.
The heart of the complex is the Camigliano Arch, the temple’s monumental entrance and the most important in situ remnant of the sanctuary of Isis and Serapis in the Campus Martius.
Its origins date back to the Republican era (1st century BCE), when a first temple dedicated to Isis stood on the same site, frequented—according to tradition—even by Cleopatra, Caesar’s companion.
During the Augustan age, the complex was expanded and embellished, and in the centuries that followed it underwent further transformations, a sign of the constant attention and favor accorded to the Egyptian goddess by the Roman emperors. It was, in every respect, the most important Egyptian sanctuary in Imperial Rome.
Beginning in the 4th century, the temple entered a phase of gradual decline, though traces of its use persisted until the 11th century.
Over time, much of the complex was stripped and dispersed: many statues—today there are at least 35 works preserved in various museums—and five obelisks were removed from the site.
Today, the Camigliano Arch is the only monumental portion of the Temple of Isis and Serapis still open to visitors in the heart of Rome’s historic center, a precious testament to a past in which the city was a crossroads of different cultures, cults, and traditions.
