The art of building a masterpiece:
Trajan's Column

Section 7
The fortunes of Trajan’s Column

In 1162, the Roman Senate decided to protect the Column “for all eternity, as long as the world shall last, for the purpose of safeguarding the honor of the Commune of Rome forever.” This was the very first monument of the ancient city to be protected from all forms of vandalism—confirming how strongly it was identified with the history and the past of the Urbs. Thereafter, Trajan’s Column became a source of inspiration for architects and draftsmen, who reproduced it in minute detail. Florentine art and culture participated in this rediscovery from the earliest stages: in the late thirteenth century, Florence received fragments of the vast architectural and sculptural complex of the Forum Ulpium.