THE CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS (Musei Capitolini) IN ROME; ITALY. The creation of the Capitoline Museums has been traced back to 1471; when Pope Sixtus IV donated a group of bronze statues of great symbolic value to the People of Rome. The collections are closely linked to the city of Rome; and most of the exhibits come from the city itself.Left : --- STATUE OF HERCULES RESTORED AS KILLING THE HYDRA OF LERNA (Sculpture From an original of the Early Hellenistic period)The sculpture was discovered during the reconstruction of the Chuch of Sant'Agnese. The sculptor Alessandro Algardi doncuted a complete restoration of the statue. He probably modified the ancient iconography of Hercules who domesticates the hind of Ceryneia to iconography of Hercules who kills the Hydra. At any rate; the work is a Roman reworking of a Greek creation attributed to Lysippus who; according to the sources; sculptured the labours of Hercules.Left: --- PORTRAIT OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT Alexander III of Macedon (356-323 BC)---THE GALLERY : The two sides of the Gallery are lined with a row of sculptures of various types from different periods arranged according to strictly ornamental criteria. Many statues are Roman copies of original Greek masterpieces; now lost.