The huge commemorative columns put up by the Ancient Romans are no ordinary pieces of architecture. They are massive monuments that celebrate great events in the history of the Empire.

Trajan's Column

One of Rome's greatest landmarks is Trajan's Column which, after nineteen centuries, still rises majestically in all its original splendour from the Forum that bears his name. Beneath the base were collected the ashes of the Emperor, and on top of it stood his statue - now replaced by one of St Peter.

The column consists of nineteen blocks of marble; inside, a spiral staircase runs to the top. The most important part of this historic monument is the spiral band of carved figures around the outside, which give the viewer a documentary glimpse of the arms, arts and customs of the Dacians as well as the Romans. Recorded are the bridges constructed by Trajan, the fortifications he attacked, the opposing armies he destroyed and the enemies he put to flight.

The spiral is formed of 44 slabs, and reaches the height of 29.7m (39.8m including the statue); in its 155 scenes can be counted nearly 1500 figures. Its height was set to match the height of the Viminal Hill at this point, to show how much of the hill had to be cut into to build the forum.

In Antiquity the architectural ensemble became the most dignified area of the city, with two libraries, a temple, a great equestrian statue of Trajan and a triumphal arch. Later there must have existed there the colossal temple to Trajan constructed by his successor, but this is long demolished. In its place are two churches, the Municipal Palace, and various private houses, including that of Michelangelo.

The Column of Marcus Aurelius

However, Trajan's Column is not the only famous column in Rome. Another is situated in the Piazza Colonna ('Colonna' means 'column' in Italian), which is the nucleus of city life and the meeting point between the old papal Rome and the new districts which grew up on the eastern and south-eastern hills.

At the centre of the piazza rises the glorious column of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, erected by the Romans to celebrate the Emperor's victories over the Germans and Sarmatians.

The shaft measures 29.6m in height (42m including the plinth and capital). It is made of twenty-eight marble blocks, some of which have shifted owing to earthquakes. The twenty bas-relief spirals represent scenes from the Germanic wars, in a style less refined than that of Trajan's Column but no less interesting given the detail of the scenes and settings depicted.

At the summit of the column, which could formerly be reached by means of an interior staircase, is a statue of St Paul, placed there on Pope Sixtus V's orders in 1589, in place of the original one of the Emperor.

The column is surrounded by various palaces and public buildings. These include the Colonna Palace, the Chigi Palace (the seat of the President of the Council of Ministers), Bernini's Montecitorio Palace (since 1871 the Chamber of Deputies) and St Bartholomew's Chapel.