Rome Day Two- Friday, February 19th, 2010
Our free breakfast this morning included croissants, muffins, bread and jam, coffee, and juice. I devoured about 3 of each- I was so hungry. The first place we went to today was the Ara Pacis Museum by Richard Meier, which I was looking forward to:
Ara Pacis Museum by Richard Meier, 1995-2006
The Ara Pacis museum complex employs the most up-to-date exhibition techniques and media. It is designed to be permeable and transparent with regard to the urban context of the Augusteo. In addition to the public exhibition areas, there is a small auditorium, a museum shop, office areas, and storage facilities. We spent a very long time here- for there really wasn’t that much to see. I spent most of the time in the museum shop reading a book about Frank Gehry and his firm.
The Roman Forum
After Richard Meier’s building we grabbed some lunch and headed over to the Roman Forum, where we were given a tour from a professor from Cornell University and a couple other elite universities. He was very well informed and a very fast walker. I was very intrigued by him, because by the end of his tour he had memorized all of our names. Perhaps he memorizes names so he can work on his memorization, I don’t know, but he was very smart. When he talked he closed his eyes, as if he was recalling information. However, at the same time he would point to where he was talking about, as if he had the sight memorized as well.
“The Roman Forum, located between the Capitoline and Palatine hills in the centre of Rome, was the main focus of the Roman Republic and the later symbolic heart of an empire that stretched from England to Carthage. The religious and political institutions, law courts, shops and markets would have bustled to life, and the temples and imperial monuments were architectural triumphs. Today, it requires a certain amount of imagination to picture the Forum in its former glory, as the ravages of history have not been kind. Fire, invasions and general decay have all player their part, and most recently, in 1932, the Italian fascist dictator Mussolini ordered a main road to be built straight through the site, bulldozing the narrow alleyways. Among the best-preserved monuments are the triumphal Arch of Septimius, eight columns of the Temple of Saturn and the rectangular House of the Vestal Virgins- where six virgin priestesses devoted thirty years of service to attending the sacred flame in the Temple of Vesta, the Roman goddess of the hearth.”
This exert from our ‘Reading Cities’ handout probably doesn’t accurately describe what its like to walk through the Roman Forum. The Roman Forum was the center of Ancient Rome. Period. Enormous structures, Palaces, Theaters, and Buildings were all erected in the Roman Forum. Walking through it you literally feel like you are in ancient Rome, it’s totally awesome! There are ruins everywhere: stone from columns and buildings, and ruins liter the Roman Forum, it is truly an unbelievable sight.
After the tour we went back to the apartment and took a nap. I got dinner and groceries at a market down the street. Tonight we visited the Trevi Fountain, which is perhaps one of my favorite structures in Rome:
The Trevi Fountain
The Fontana di Trevi or Trevi Fountain is the most famous and arguably the most beautiful fountain in all of Rome. This impressive monument dominates the small Trevi square located in the Quirinale district. The Trevi fountain is at the ending part of the Aqua Virgo, an aqueduct constructed in 19 BC. It brings water all the way from the Salone Springs (approx 20km from Rome) and supplies the fountains in the historic center of Rome with water.
What I love about the Trevi fountain is how it emerges from the nearby building: the fountain literally becomes the building and forms the structure overhead. What I don’t like is how tight the site is composed. The boundaries of the fountain are reasonable, but the piazza around it almost feels too dense and contained. Tourists and people walking past from street to street are more so clustered and contained rather than presented to the site: I think the architect should’ve worked on the approach a lot more.
Tonight we stayed in the common room and played card games and talked about Rome. My friend Ducco bought a gladiator helmet for 120 euros and my friend Lucas, whom I was going to go to Greece with, and I still owe 75 euros to, bought a sword for 80. There were about 20-30 people in the small common room in our hotel. We got kinda loud playing cards, but it was very fun! Tomorrow we will be visiting the Coliseum, which is on the far end of the Roman Forum, im so excited!
No comments:
Post a Comment