The exhibition itinerary
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Section 3
Trajan’s Column worksite
On May 12, 113 B.C.E., Rome saw the inauguration of a monument that constituted a total innovation in its urban landscape, despite the existing wealth of spectacular architecture. It was a gigantic marble column in Tuscan Doric style, rising 2,958.9 cm or 100 Roman feet—hence its definition as a “centenarian” column. The column rests on a rectangular pedestal that also serves as a support and entrance. The monument stood at the center of a narrow rectangular colonnaded courtyard (20.2 meters wide and 25 meters long) flanked by two libraries on its short sides and by the Basilica Ulpia to the south. Inside, a 185-step helical staircase led to the top, where a terrace accommodating 24 people offered a unique view of the city. The parallelepiped pedestal contained a room intended to house the ashes of the emperor and his wife Plotina at their death. At the top of the Column was a bronze statue of Trajan, bearing witness to the bold structure’s celebrative purpose. A long ornamental frieze winding 23 times around the Column shaft depicted the main events of the military campaigns waged beyond the Danube and culminating in the Dacians’ final surrender. [Digital Library]