The Palazzo Barberini was designed for
Pope Urban VIII, a member of the
Barberini family, by the sixteenth-century architect
Carlo Maderno on the former location of
Villa Sforza. The ceiling of its central was decorated by
Pietro da Cortona with the visual panegyric of the
Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power. The museum expanded through purchases and donations, such as the acquisition of the
Torlonia and
Monte di Pietà collections in 1892, the donation of
Henriette Hertz in 1915, and the purchase of the
Chigi collection in 1918. == Palazzo Barberini ==