The Arch of Constantine, or Arco di Constantino in Italian, was built by the famous emperor Constantine to commemorate his victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 315 CE. It's the most recent triumphal arch still existing in Rome, and has some unique characteristics that most others lack.
This arch is impressively sized at over twenty meters high, twenty-five meters wide, and seven meters deep, with three distinctive arches built into it. The center one is more than eleven meters high and six meters high, and is the largest, with smaller arches on either side.
The design of the Arch of Constantine is similar to that used in the Arch of Septimus Severus, which is located at the Roman Forum. Both of them have main sections that sport detached columns, and have an upper portion called an attic that bears a main inscription.
Visiting the Arch of Constantine is easy to do if you're in Rome, as it spans the ancient Via Triumphalis, or the road emperors used when returning to Rome in triump. Locating the triumphal arch here says a lot about what Constantine though of himself, as well as about the message he wanted to send both to his rivals and to later people.
You'll find the arch located extremely close to the Colosseum, and if you want to visit it, just take the Metro there. Of course, it's also easy to add to a tour of Rome's ancient ruins - there are plenty of them in this part of the city.
Depending on the angle and lighting you're viewing the arch from, you may notice that some parts are a different color, and that it looks like it's made out of different kinds of stone.
This is because the Arch of Constantine is made up of other monuments! Pieces were borrowed, especially for the lower portion of the arch, and incorporated into a finished piece.
The lower part is made from marble blocks, but the attic is made of bricks, covered in marble. There's a staircase in the thickness of the arch, but it's some distance from the ground, suggesting that the original monument may have been situated differently.
Some people have said that this kind of borrowing was done in order to make construction go faster or to make up for the lack of skill of builders. It's hard to say exactly why the arch was made this way, but it provides another interesting historical detail.
Later on, the arch itself was recycled, being incorporated into a family stronghold during the Medieval period. Restoration started in the eighteenth century, and continued intermittently until the late 1990s.
If you're on a trip to Rome, you'll probably take the time to see the ancient monuments of this fascinating city. Don't forget to take a little time out to see the Arch of Constantine while you're there.
This arch is impressively sized at over twenty meters high, twenty-five meters wide, and seven meters deep, with three distinctive arches built into it. The center one is more than eleven meters high and six meters high, and is the largest, with smaller arches on either side.
The design of the Arch of Constantine is similar to that used in the Arch of Septimus Severus, which is located at the Roman Forum. Both of them have main sections that sport detached columns, and have an upper portion called an attic that bears a main inscription.
Visiting the Arch of Constantine is easy to do if you're in Rome, as it spans the ancient Via Triumphalis, or the road emperors used when returning to Rome in triump. Locating the triumphal arch here says a lot about what Constantine though of himself, as well as about the message he wanted to send both to his rivals and to later people.
You'll find the arch located extremely close to the Colosseum, and if you want to visit it, just take the Metro there. Of course, it's also easy to add to a tour of Rome's ancient ruins - there are plenty of them in this part of the city.
Depending on the angle and lighting you're viewing the arch from, you may notice that some parts are a different color, and that it looks like it's made out of different kinds of stone.
This is because the Arch of Constantine is made up of other monuments! Pieces were borrowed, especially for the lower portion of the arch, and incorporated into a finished piece.
The lower part is made from marble blocks, but the attic is made of bricks, covered in marble. There's a staircase in the thickness of the arch, but it's some distance from the ground, suggesting that the original monument may have been situated differently.
Some people have said that this kind of borrowing was done in order to make construction go faster or to make up for the lack of skill of builders. It's hard to say exactly why the arch was made this way, but it provides another interesting historical detail.
Later on, the arch itself was recycled, being incorporated into a family stronghold during the Medieval period. Restoration started in the eighteenth century, and continued intermittently until the late 1990s.
If you're on a trip to Rome, you'll probably take the time to see the ancient monuments of this fascinating city. Don't forget to take a little time out to see the Arch of Constantine while you're there.
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