Trajan's Forum

Unveiled in 112 A. D. Trajan's Forum was the largest and most splendid of the Imperial Forums. Because the area available was insufficient, Apollodorus of Damascus, the architect who was responsible for the construction, made the colossal excavation of that part of the Quirinal hill that joined it with the Capitol hill. The height of the excavation is indicated by the Column of Trajan, the only monument of Trajan's Forum which has survived virtually intact.
The Forum, which occupied an area of 300 meters by 180, consisted of a square, paved with 3,000 slabs of Carrara marble, surrounded on three sides by porches, where on top were placed statues of Dacian warriors, to celebrate the conquest of Dacia by Trajan. The gilded bronze statue of Trajan was in the square of the Forum, and recently it was found the base. The Forum of Trajan was entered through a triumphal gate next to the Forum of Augustus, in front of which, on the other side of the square, stood in all its magnificence the Basilica Ulpia, dedicated to Marcus Ulpius Trajan.
The Basilica, as all those of ancient Rome, had civil functions.
170 meters long and 60 deep, was formed by five naves, closed on the short sides by two apses; behind it, between the Latin library and the Greek library, Trajan's column, placed on a high pedestal and wonderfully painted, told the conquest of Dacia.
Today, except Trajan’s column virtually intact, remain only shafts of columns, capitals, fragments of decorations, traces of the floors and little else. The statues of Dacian, about 200, of various marbles, , are now in museums around the world, as well as in the attic of the Arch of Constantine.
The extraordinary frieze of Trajan, which with tremendous realism depicts the Roman cavalry charge and was in the attic of the basilica Ulpia, subsequently divided into 4 pieces was immured in the Arch of Constantine.
With our work, on the basis of certain archaeological analysis, we reconstructed the Forum of Trajan, whose visit we invite you to follow through five different points of view so that, identifying the findings visible today, you can associate them with the contextual reconstructions that with the progress of your visit we will show you.
You will discover the grandeur of the buildings, the richness of the decorations, the variety of colored marbles used and ultimately will appreciate the genius of Apollodorus of Damascus.