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ОглавлениеДля бесплатного чтения доступна только часть главы! Для чтения полной версии необходимо приобрести книгуROMA PASS CARDThe Roma Pass card will allow you to save a plenty of money. It costs € 34 and is valid for 3 days. During this time, the cardholder is granted admission-free entrance to two sights and gets decent discounts on other objects’ entrance tickets. In adittion, Roma Pass includes a three-day transport card, which makes traveling in Rome much easier. Such a ticket itself is worth € 16.50, so a half of the card is repaid with it. In addition, if you act rationally and choose, for example, the Collosseum-Forums complex with a €12 admission fee and Villa Borghese, admission fee €14, for the free first two visits, the profitability of the card becomes quite obvious. But it is also about the fact that Roma Pass holders pay much less for tickets to other museums. So, a trip to Castel Sant’Angelo will cost 7 euros instead of 10.50, almost twice cheaper it will cost to visit the Galleria Spada and Villa Torlonia, and so on. In short, Roma Pass is useful even not taking into account the permission to skip the line at the entrance, which is very important in case of visiting Colosseum. Until recently in Rome there was also sold the Roma Pass Piu card, which also allowed to visit some sights around Rome for lower price. With it one could considerably save money on visiting Villas Tivoli — Villa d'Este and Villa Adriana are €8 and getting a discount on this price is quite useful. Besides that Roma Pass Piu additionally allowed you to travel Cotral suburban buses and local commuter trains. Unfortunately, some time ago the sale of this cards was suspended. But it is possible, that Roma Pass Piu will return on sale in the future. The heart of Ancient Rome was the area near the Capitoline hill. The government buildings and the most important temples of the Romans were located here. Now the Roman Forum complex is a true archeological open-air museum. Virtually the full period of ancient Roman history is represented to the visitors here, from ancient tombs to the Column of Phocas, installed in the 7th century AD. Historical sites are found at every corner literally: here Cato the Elder, who became famous for his legendary quotation that Carthage must be destroyed, gave a speech, there the silver-tongued Cicero inspired the crowds, and here the great Ceasar weaved his plots. Marshland between the Palatine, Eksviline and Capitoline Hill was drained by Tarquinius the Ancient, also at that time began the development of the Forum. The square was partially intended for trade, and its other part was given for public events — religious ceremonies, elections, public speeches and so on. During the period of the Roman Republic the Forum become the center of political and religious life, it was gradually reconstructed and got a new look. The wealth of the citizens of Rome allowed them to take up many major construction projects – several temples were built, and some luxury houses of aristocrats rose along the perimeter. Victories and conquests led to the construction of monuments and obelisks, the Forum was decorated with statues of the emperors, on its territory there was established the so-called ‘’hub of the universe’’ — a gilded column, from which all distances in the vast empire were measured. Dissipation of the Roman Empire and the capture of the capital by the barbarian tribes ended with looting and destruction of the Forum, only memories were left of its former beauty. In fact, you can take a look on the whole area from a sightseeing platform on the Capitoline Hill, but the ruins are worth visiting because of their historical significance at least, and a walk there will be very informative. Via Sacra street, paved with uneven dark plates, goes through the entire Forum. It stretches from the grave of Romulus, who founded the city, along the facade of the Basilica Julia and turns round the corner between the Basilica Emilia and the Antonius Pius temple. In ancient times, this road was used for triumphal marches and similar events. The processions started from the Campus Martius and ended on the Forum, near the Capitol. The most important building on Via Sacra was the Temple of Saturn, built in 5th century BC; nowadays only the columns are left from it. In its sanctuary were kept the war spoils, state treasury and tax documents. Not surprising, that the temple burned to the ground several times... Standing next to it, the famous Temple of Vespasian is heavily destroyed, but three of its columns,15 meters high, allow us to imagine how majestic the building used to look. Inside of it there were statues of Roman emperors – Vespasian and his son Titus played an important role in the history of Rome. Nearby was located the Temple of Concordia, which was less lucky than the previous building — from it there isn’t even a single column left. The building was dedicated to the Roman goddess of reconciliation as a sign of consent between the patricians and the plebeians in 367 BC. On the right from the temple facade was situated the Mamertine prison, one of the oldest buildings in the city, in addition quite well preserved. The prison was used to detent the most important people — state criminals or captured enemy leaders. According to the legend, in its cells the Saints Peter and Paul spent their last days. View of the Roman Forum The Rostra platform, on which the speakers appeared, in old times was decorated with the snouts of enemies’ ships, that Romans had captured, from it comes the name of rostral columns, installed in case of victory in a naval battle. As for the temple of Janus, it hasn't preserved, even though it was considered one of the most important sanctuaries: during the war its doors remained open. They were closed only a few times during the whole existence on of the Roman Empire, and each closing act was a puplic event, because peace came to the country. The ruins of a building on the Roman Forum Another interesting sight near Rostra is a lonely standing Column of Phocas. It was installed in 608 AD, and became the final touch in the view of the Roman Forum. It’s symbolic that the construction was put on the podium, occupied by the Docletianus monument in the past. This way the continuity of generations showed up. At the beginning of VII century the Byzantine rulers tried to put hands on Italy and the appearance of a Byzantine Emperor statue in the center of Rome is very emblematic. The construction of Basilica Julia began at Julius Caesar’s order, the works took a whole decade, because the sizes of the temple were planned to be enormous — almost 100 meters long and 50 wide. The construction severely suffered from fires twice, it was badly damaged by barbarian tribes, who had captured Rome in 410 AD. In the times of the Empire the building was used for meetings of the Senate and litigation — the Caesar's spirit was felt very clearly those days. Now the past greatness of the temple may by only somebody’s guess, because everything that tourists can see, is a series of steps and remains of columns. On the other side of the Column of Phocas we can see Basilica Emilia. It also used to be an impressive object with up to 200 meters high facades. It was built in 179 BC, and in the next century the representatives of Emilius Family enlarged the basilica. It got the second floor, and was richly decorated with marble, even the floors were made of it. In the horrible for Rome year of 410 AD a lot of harm was done to the building, and although it was partially restored later, only in our days there was launched a systematic restoration, intended to give the Basillica at least some resemblance of its old view. The temple of Caesar has remained fragmentary; it was built in 42 BC, two years after the assassination of Guy Julius by conspirators. The sanctuary was built on the spot where Caesar's funeral pile had earlier been. Nowadays only a part of the podium is left from the whole building, everything else was lost. On the left from the temple of Ceasar we can see the ruins of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, one of the oldest buildings of the Forum. The sanctuary was built 484 BC to commemorate an important victory over the troops of the dethroned king Tarquinius; people believed that the Dioscuri twins, sons of Jupiter, helped Romans to gain their victory. Only three columns are left now from the temple, majestic in the past, but even they are enough to imagine the hugeness of the construction. Erected in 141 AD, the Temple of Antoninus and Faustine has almost entirely been preserved till nowadays as it was later dedicated as the San Lorenzo Church. So the solid building, with help of which the Emperor Antoninus Pius wanted to eternize the memory of his wife Faustina, gives us an idea of ancient architecture. The entrance is preceded by 10 marbel columns, each 17 meters high. The Temple of Antoninus and Faustine on the Forum The construction of the temple of Julius Caesar began in 29 BC on the order of Emperor Augustus. The works became a part of a larger project, conceived by the master of Rome: he thought it was necessary to renovate all the dilapidated buildings and beautify this part of the Forum. The House of the Vestal Virgins and the Temple of Vesta were among the objects of the Emperor’s regards. Now there isn’t much left of them, but in the Ancient Rome it was a sacred place, where the inextinguishable fire burned, representing eternal life. Vestals were highly respected, only girls from noble families were chosen to become the priestesses of the goddess Vesta, when entering their duties, they gave a vow of chastity, and the priestesses who broke her vow, was buried alive. Another attention-drawing object is the temple of Romulus, but it was totally ruined unfortunately, and the Arch of Titus has preserved very well. It was constructed on order of Emperor Dominctian, to commemorate the victory over the Jews, held by his brother. The construction is only several decades far from its two-thousand-year anniversary, and for all that, it still looks very presentable. You can easily read all the inscriptions, which remain absolutely distinct. Within the zone of the ancient Forum goes the wide street of dei Fori Imperiali, constructed on the order of Benito Mussolini. A lot of important historical monuments were destroyed for it. Because of this, the Old Forum is located on one side of the street, and the new, so-called Imperial Forum — on another. A number of Roman rulers left here their marks in sequence, starting with Julius Caesar, who wasn’t a Roman emperor in fact. But he established new traditions of building, having bought a piece of land in the center of Rome for a large amount of money and developed it brilliantly. The contemporaries noted the huge temple of Venus, which has only partially remained till present days. Внимание! Авторские права на книгу "Rome: travel guide" (Vazlav Shubbe) охраняются законодательством! |
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