3485 x 2788 px | 29,5 x 23,6 cm | 11,6 x 9,3 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
2011
Altre informazioni:
The Arch of Trajan is an ancient Roman triumphal arch in Benevento, southern Italy. It was erected to celebrate emperor Trajan across the Via Appia, at its entrance in the city. The arch was built between 114 and 117. In Lombard times, it was enclosed in southern sector of the city walls and became known as Porta Aurea ("Golden Gate"). The church of Sant'Ilario, now housing the Videomuseum of the Arch, was built nearby. The arch was studied by Sebastiano Serlio in Renaissance times and drawn by Giovanni Battista Piranesi in the 18th century. It was restored several times due to ageing and earthquakes: under Pope Urban VIII, then in 1661, 1713 (when the marble architrave crumbled down) and 1792. In 1850, in the occasion of Pope Pius IX's visit in Benevento, it was isolated with the demolition of the annexed structures and houses. The arch has a single, barrel-vaulted archway, and is 15.60 m-high and 8.60 m wide. Each façade has four semicolumns in correspondence of the two side pillars, supporting an entablature. Above the architraves is an attic which, like the latter, juts out above the archway. The arch is built in limestone covered by opus quadratum with Parian marble slabs. It has a rich sculpted decoration on the two main façades. The attic features a dedicatory inscription and, at the sides, two base-relief panels: the left one on the external sides, not entirely preserved, represented the homage the provincial countryside divinities, while the right one the deduction of provincial colonies. On the internal side, on the left, was the depiction of Trajan welcomed by the Capitoline Triad and, on the right, Trajan in the Forum Boarium.
