The structure of the museum was designed by the American architect Richard Meier. It was built with steel, travertine, glass and plaster. The place is the first big urban-architectonic intervention constructed in the historical centre of Rome ever since Fascism. It is a triumphant looking structure, with clear references to the Imperial Rome style.

Inside the theca you can admire the Ara Pacis Augustae altar, a monument which was inaugurated on the 30th of January in 9 b.C.. It symbolizes the peace and prosperity brought by the Pax Romana. This was the long period of peace imposed on the states of the Empire thanks to the first Emperor of Rome: Augustus.

Inside the museum there are also rooms dedicated to events and exhibitions.