My trip to Rome (Italy)

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In October 1994 I spent 10 days with a group in Rome. The courier was my former latin teachter, Mr. Lindlar who knows Rome very well. He let me come with the group, even if I was his worst latin student in all his years of teaching. But this had been some years before. So I started to Rome with my brand new Canon EOS 5 camera and about 20 films. Some of the best pictures I'll show you here.

If you like to see a photo in better quality (larger), then just click on the pic.

We start with one of the most famous buildings in Rome, the Colosseum. It was built under Cesar Vespasian and inaugurated in 79 C.E. With a capacity of about 70000 visitors it was the largest amphitheatre of the roman world. They showed gladiator fights and fights with beasts there. The Colosseum today looks so devastated because for centuries it was misused as a quarry.

From the Colosseum you can have a look at the triumphal arch of Constantin, as you see on the left photo. This arch was built 312-315 C.E. because of an important victory of Constantin.

From a historical point of view more interesting to me seems the triumphal arch of Titus on the right picture, that is situated between Forum Romanum and Colosseum. It tells about the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E. On the inner side of the arch, that was built by cesar Domitian in 81 C.E., you find the well known relief you see on the photo below. It shows how roman soldiers carry equipment from the jewish temple, for example the Menorah, the lamp with the 7 arms.

According to the historical writer Josephus the number of dead was more than one million, and ninety-seven thousand captives were taken. Josephus also describes that the romans only left standing a few parts of the town-walls. He remarks that, apart from these remnants, "the rest of the wall encompassing the city was so completely levelled to the ground as to leave future visitors to the spot no ground for believing that it had ever been inhabited."

Now we look round at the Forum Romanum that according to the focal distance of the camera looks pretty packed or pretty spacious. What today is only a field of ruins was once the center of the antique Rome, focus of the political power and location of temples and basilicas.

As we leave the antique Rome we observe two modern Romans chatting on one of the squares of Rome. The letters SPQR are found everywhere in Rome. It stands for "Senatus Populusque Romanus", what means "The senate and the people of Rome" (I hope that was right, Mr. Lindlar). Public installations as the water system of Rome are signed with SPQR.

This cupola belongs to the cathedral of St. Peter, the biggest church of the world. But the cupola is not the biggest in Rome, the one of the Pantheon is bigger. From the top of the cupola you have a nice view on the city (but I don't show it to you here). Do you see the tourists that push each other to "enjoy" the view? If you click on the pic it will be loaded larger.

And annother photo from the Vatican: The staircase of the vatican museums. It's interesting that these are two different stairs that are entangled. Clever, isn't it?

Now we come to the Pantheon. It was built between 118 and 125 C.E. by cesar Hadrian. The diameter of the cupola is 43 meters and that's 1 meter more than the cupola of St. Peter has. It's remarkable that the Romans made it with a kind of concrete. The "little hole" for the daylight has a diameter of about 9 meters. The Pantheon is in such a good condition because in 608 C.E. it was declared a church by pope Bonifatius IV.

And two places more, that every tourist "must" have seen: The square Piazza Navona (right photo) and the fountains of Trevi. I think it's the most famous fountain in Rome, because it's part of nearly every movie and book that plays here. And after they have renovated it, it really looks nice, doesn't it?

At last I have a tip for all visitors of Rome that want to leave the bustle of the metropolis for one day: Tivoli, a small city about 30 kilometers (20 miles) east of Rome. There we went on our "free day", without the whole group. The park of the Villa d'Este with it's countless fountains is really worth a visit. And it's a nice recovery.

Underneath Tivoli you can visit the Villa Adriana. This is a very large area where cesar Hadrian in the 2nd century C.E. built his villa. He did it under the impression of two large travels through all parts of his empire. So this villa was built to represent his empire as some kind of world exhibition of the different cultures under the rule of Rome. Unfortunately this great construction dilapidated since the days of Konstantin. But nevertheless a visit at the villa of Hadrian is very interesting.

So now we come to the end of our trip to Rome and its surroundings. I hope you have enjoyed my guided tour though the "eternal city".