Rome - December 28, 2011 - Ara Pacis

Inside Ara Pacis

Ara Pacis Museum

Ara Pacis from the north

Ara Pacis. One of the things that I did not actually expect to have time to visit, but we did. The altar was commissioned by the senate of Rome and dedicated to the Augustinian peace. It is quite an amazing piece of sculpture and luckily was buried under the silt of the Tiber for centuries. Dug out on Mussolini’s orders in the 1930’s it now has a new museum which I thought was a rather nice airy building. Perfect for seeing the exquisitely worked marble.

The long sides of the altar enclosure have an incomparable array of imperial portraits. While gods and goddesses frolic on the front and back, oh and people sacrifice pigs.

A scale model shows the the altar in its original location near the sundial that had the obelisk nomen that is now in front of the Palazzo Montecitorio. I mentioned that in an earlier post.  

There was also an exhibit on the photography of war, a rather depressing subject at the best of times. Extremely moving, extremely morbid and horrifically striking. Though I suppose that was supposed to be the point.

Some dude outside the Ara Pacis listening to the audio guide

Rome - December 27, 2011 - Column of Marcus Aurelius and Environs

Piazza Colonna

Column of Marcus Aurelius close-up

Heading westish we arrived at the Via del Corso (yippee!). Darn near right across the street is the Piazza Colonna which contains the Chigi Palace (which is d@mned boring from the outside) and the Column of Marcus Aurelius.



Column of Marcus Aurelius: Built sometime between 176 and 180,it commemorates his victory over the barbarian tribes of the Danube while using barbarian mercenaries. It's just so zen! Lots of death, destruction, grim faced soldiers and dying peasants. You sort of need to picture each scene in slow motion and have Barber's "Adagio for Strings" running through your head. Or you can alternately laugh at the fact that the end of realism in art was nigh and everyone seems to have disproportionately large heads. Still it's an amazing work of engineering.

Chigi Palace: The official residence of the prime minister of Italy. The dining room here was the inspiration for the dining room in the Florida mansion of Marjorie Merriweather Post (Post Cereal and Birdseye Frozen foods, oh and Jell-O plus gosh knows what else). From the outside a wee bit boring, though the guards were rather pleasant.

Solare Obelisk

Angry Bishop-Saint

Solare Obelisk: originally brought to Rome by Augustus from Heliopolis in 10 BCE, probably something to do with gloating over beating Cleopatra some years earlier. Served as the gnomon of a giant sundial on Campus Martius. Long buried, Pope Pius VI (pius my foot...ok, whatever) erected it here in front of the Palazzo Monecitorio in the late 18th century. I don't know when but part of the sundial has been recreated on the ground of the piazza. Funnily I didn't notice this till two weeks later.

Palazzo Montecitorio:  this palace was built by some Pope, he was either Innocent or Pius, but probably neither. The reason for it being built is probably the same as the Quirinale palace. Apparently the Vatican was know for its malarial fevers. Which is horribly unpleasant to think about…I don’t like malaria. Spero Meliora Nunc est Malaria! (Actually Spero meloria non metus lacini! Ha! But the bad latin sounds better!)

La Maddalena

Santa Maria in Campo Marzio: Ran into this church and was just struck by the really angry looking Bishop-Saint-Zombie...just look at this picture....gaaar...he wants brains! Pagan brains!

La Maddalena, I knew nothing about this extravagant church until we ran into it. I say it's baroque but others seem to say it's rococo. Don't care, it was a bit of a shock as it sits on a rather tiny piazzeta. The only pictures I was able to get still sort of give me vertigo.

Palazzo Montecitorio and the Solare Obelisk