Italy's National Museum of 21st Century Arts (MAXXI) opened a new outpost in central L'Aquila on Sunday, in a major effort to foster the cultural rebirth of a city that re-emerged slowly from the devastation caused by a major earthquake in 2009.

Across the elegant rooms of 18th-century Palazzo Ardinghelli -- also badly damaged in the quake and restored by the Culture Ministry -- the MAXXI L'Aquila displayed new artworks of contemporary artists and some 60 pieces selected from the museum's permanent collection in Rome.