Monuments to visit Rome

It is the largest and most sumptuous of the forums. The Trajan Forum is a 300 m x 190 m quadrilateral, built in 112 AD. It is best known for housing the famous column that bears his name. Bounded by the basilica Ulpia, the forums of Caesar and Augustus and the markets of Trajan, this forum was designed by the great architect Apollodore of Damascus. For its construction, an entire hill was razed to the ground between the Quirinal and the Capitol, to give the necessary scale to the complex.

Trajane column. At a height of 10 Roman feet, corresponding to 30 m, it tells in 17 marble rings and 155 paintings the story of Trajan's victorious campaigns against Dacia, today's Romania. It is the main monument of the forum. The column is inflated to half height, to avoid the impression of concavity that its height would cause; the relative size of the figures in its bas-reliefs in relation to the whole increases as the viewer moves away from it. Try it, it's obvious! The 2,500 scenes that adorn the column provide very valuable insights into the military techniques and equipment of the time. To find out more, casts displayed at the EUR-Museum of Roman Civilization make it possible to analyse the smallest details. The base of the column housed the emperor Trajan's gold funeral urn, unfortunately it was stolen in the Middle Ages. The statue of Saint Peter, at the top of the column, has replaced the statue of the emperor since the 17th century, which is now lost

The Arch of Titus was built by Domitian in 81 A.D., in honour of his brother and predecessor Titus, to commemorate the taking and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. It is the oldest of the three triumphal arches still visible in Rome. It consists of a single arch, and its sides are decorated with bas-reliefs showing, on the one hand, Rome guiding Titus' quadriga and, on the other, the booty, including the temple furniture and in particular the seven-branched candlestick carried by the Roman soldiers during the triumphal parade.