The name of this hall in the New Hermitage comes from the monumental statue of the supreme god Jupiter, one of the largest sculptures from Antiquity to be found in any of the world’s museums. The statue, created in the late 1st century AD, was found during excavations at the villa of Emperor Domitian (81–96) and acquired for the Imperial Hermitage in 1851 among the collection of Giampietro Campana, Marchese di Cavelli. The ancient sculpture reaches 3.5 metres in height and weighs at least 16 tonnes.
Displayed to either side of it are heads of Dacians, fragments of the large statues of captives that stood on Trajan’s Forum in Rome. Both these items also came from the Campana collection.
By the opposite wall are a 2nd-century sarcophagus decorated with scenes from the myth of Achilles, notably the hero among the daughters of King Lycomedes, and two portrait heads of Domitia Longina. One of them was once part of a monumental statue depicting the domineering consort of Emperor Longinus (81–96).
