Mark's Blog: Rome

The last couple of days on our trip were spent in Rome; we stayed at a boutique hotel about 10 minutes walk from Termini station, so were well placed to go exploring! Obviously I got my 'teacher on' and dragged Gill around the various sites (she was a willing participant).

Hotel lobby

A mix up over train stations led to us missing our pre-booked train to Rome. It was made clear whose fault this was.

The Pantheon - rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in 126 CE and always awesome; with the diameter of its free-standing dome being equal to its height it is arguably the most perfect building every constructed

The survival of the Pantheon is largely due to it being consecrated as a Church in the 4th century

Originally commissioned by Marcus Agrippa as a temple for all the gods (hence pan-theon), Hadrian kept the facade in his rebuilding of it

No photo could possibly do them justice (no flash is allowed anyway), but Caravaggio's three altar pieces for the church of San Luigi dei Francesci are three of my favourite paintings; partly because they hang in a church and not a gallery, which is where they were intended to be, and they look as stunning as when they were painted four hundred years ago. A visit to the church has been on my itinerary each time I've visited to Rome. The three are each of St Matthew; here, in St Matthew the Evangelist, the saint is compelled to write by an angel. Caravaggio's work is characterised by a dramatic use of light and shade, the use of space, and often an irreverence that got him in to trouble - like any self respecting artist! The other two paintings are the Calling of St Matthew and the Martyrdom of St Matthew.

"You! Face the front!" - a statue of the Roman god of school teachers

Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore (originally 4th century)

mandatory Colosseum photo

Arch of Constantine, built from recycled Roman masonry in the first half of the 4th century

stone relief of Roman soldiers carrying off booty from the Jewish temple in Jerusalem (circa 70 CE) on the Arch of Titus that commemorates the Roman victory in the Jewish Revolt

view from the Arch of Titus across the House of the Vestal Virgins towards the Forum (Palatine Hill to the left)

Basillica of Maxentius - taking its name from Constantine's (defeated) pagan rival, this massive building became a Christian basilica under the new emperor

The remaining pillars of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, sons of Jupiter

The Garden of the Vestal Virgins; women who (on pain of being buried alive) must remain chaste for 30 years

Notorious Vestal Virgin and some old Roman statue

Pillar of Phocas in the old Forum (the rebuilt Senate House is behind on the right)

Action shot

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Temple of Saturn

Forum (part of the Rostrum is behind the Pillar of Phocas, in front of the the Arch of Septimus Severus)

The Rostrum

Site of many famous Roman orations, from Cicero to Mark Anthony's "I have come to bury Caesar, not to praise him" (with help from the imagination of a Mr. W. Shakespeare)