Mercati Traianei, Via IV Novembre
Tel. 06- 679 00 48
Busses:
64, 70, 170
Open: 9am- 5pm Tue- Sun
Closed: Jan 1, May 1, Dec
25
The Trajan's Markets constitute an extensive complex of Roman
buildings in the city of Rome, on the slopes of the Quirinal hill.
Since 2007 they have housed the "Museum of the Imperial Fora".
The complex, which originally extended beyond the limits of the
current archaeological area, in areas now occupied by modern
palaces, was mainly intended as the seat of administrative
activities connected to the Imperial Forums, and only to a limited
extent to commercial activities, which perhaps they took place in
the open spaces on the sides of the internal streets.
The
complex was built at the same time as the Forum of Trajan, at the
beginning of the second century, to occupy and support the cut of
the slopes of the Quirinal hill, and is separated from the Forum by
a paved road. It takes up the semicircular shape of the exedra of
the Trajan forum and is divided into six levels.
The dates of
the brick stamps seem to indicate that the construction mostly dates
back to the reign of Trajan and perhaps it can be attributed to his
architect, Apollodorus of Damascus, although it is possible that the
project was already conceived under Domitian, to whose time it could
be attributed at least the beginning of the excavation works.
The buildings are separated from each other by an
ancient path which in the late age took the name of via Biberatica,
which runs halfway up the slope of the hill. The lower part, starting
from the level of the forum, includes the buildings of the "Grande
hemicycle", articulated on three floors and with two "Test rooms" at the
ends, and the "Piccolo hemicycle", with rooms again on three floors. Two
stairs at the ends of the Great Hemicycle allow you to reach the upper
floors and the Via Biberatica.
Upstream from the road, the
"central body" rises, with tabernae at the level of the road and three
other floors of internal rooms, some of which are particularly
well-finished and elaborate.
To the north the via Biberatica
folds, flanked upstream by the complex of the "Great hall": the large
central space, overlooked by a series of rooms on two levels,
constitutes the current entrance to the monument from via Quattro
Novembre. From here you can access both via Biberatica and, by means of
passages opened in post-ancient times, to the rooms of the central body.
Towards the south, via Biberatica reconnects with the current via
della Salita del Grillo, which retraces an ancient route. On the sides
of this southern section of the street there is on one side a block with
poorly preserved rooms and partly remodeled in later periods; on the
opposite side there is the upper floor of a further block that divides
it from another ancient path, coming directly from the floor of the
forum and which is reconnected by stairs with the Via della Salita del
Grillo.
From the central section of via Biberatica, a staircase
allows access to the recently restored "via della Torre" and the
"Giardino delle Milizie", behind the central body, with other Roman
structures on which the Torre delle Milizie was built. 13th century.
The "Mercati di Traiano" constitute an articulated
architectural complex which, using the ductile construction technique of
opus latericium (Roman concrete covered with a brick facing), exploits
all the available spaces, obtained by cutting the slopes of the hill,
inserting rooms of it varies in shape at the different levels of the
monument. This articulation makes it possible to pass, with ample
breath, from the curvilinear arrangement of the exedra behind the
porticoes of the Forum of Trajan, to the rectilinear arrangement of the
surrounding urban fabric.
There are numerous internal connections
between the various levels (stairs, creases, etc.), giving a
particularly organic and coordinated arrangement to a complex built in
such complex soil conditions.
The brick finish is also remarkably
treated in a decorative sense: in particular on the facade of the "Great
hemicycle" an order of pilasters frames the windows on the second floor,
surmounted by alternately triangular pediments, or arched and flanked by
two triangular half gables ("broken tympanum "). This decorative party,
always in sight and designed by numerous Renaissance artists, is made
with specially shaped bricks (which are also found in the string courses
in other parts of the complex which are particularly well-finished).
Earlier traces of it can be found in Hellenistic architecture (Palazzo
delle Colonne di Tolemaide in Cyrenaica) and in some second style
paintings.
The open spaces on the external or internal paths had
a "modular" structure: covered with barrel vaults, they were equipped
with a large door with threshold, architrave and jambs in travertine,
surmounted by a small square window that could give light to a mezzanine
wooden interior. This is the typical form of commercial environments
(tabernae), normally present on the ground floor of Roman insulae: it is
these environments that at the time of the unveiling suggested a
commercial function for the complex and led to the modern name of
"Markets" being given to it. Trajan.
Throughout the complex, the
rooms were mainly covered by masonry vaults, from the simpler shapes of
the barrel vaults, to the semi-domes that cover the larger rooms, to the
complex roofing system of the "Great Hall", with six cross vaults
supported on enlarged pillars with travertine shelves and flanked on the
upper floor by rooms that contained the lateral thrusts, connected to
the structure of the vault by arches that allowed passage into the
corridor in front.
The pavements widely use, especially in the
uncovered parts, the opus spicatum (cutting bricks arranged in a
herringbone pattern), to which a second floor layer in black monochrome
mosaic of small flint tiles was often superimposed: the overlapping of
two layers contributed to ensure the waterproofing of the rooms below.
The commercial function, previously attributed to the complex, had
been correlated with Trajan's concerns about the precarious food
situation of the city: the so-called Trajan's Markets had been
interpreted as the final point of a gigantic supply system of the
capital, which was also ensured with the construction of the port of
Trajan in Fiumicino.
The presence of numerous rooms in the form
of tabernae, in particular along the external paths, however, is not
necessarily an indication of a commercial function of the complex: even
the paved streets that make up the external paths are in fact accessible
mainly by stairs that overcome the differences in height, and therefore
they were not passable by the wagons necessary for the transport of
goods.
Rather, the monument was supposed to constitute a sort of
"multifunctional center", where public activities, above all of an
administrative nature, took place. The distribution of the rooms, their
connections and the articulation of the internal paths had to depend on
the different functions of the rooms, such as offices or archives, in
close connection with the forensic complex.
The procurator Fori
Divi Traiani, mentioned in an inscription recently found, and probably
in charge of the administration and management of the monumental
complex, must have been located in the rooms of the "central body".
Trajan's Markets Museo dei Fori Imperiali is part of the system of
Musei in Comune, the civic museums of Rome Capital.
Inaugurated
in autumn 2007, it aims to illustrate the ancient architecture of the
Imperial Forums and their architectural and sculptural decoration. The
recompositions of some scores of ancient buildings are presented, made
with original fragments, casts and modular stone additions, according to
the museographic choice of reversibility, which aim to restore the
perception of their original three-dimensionality to the visitor and to
make them appreciate the richness figurative programs, tools of imperial
propaganda.
The exhibition itinerary begins in the "Great Hall"
with the introduction to the area of the Imperial Forums, each of
which is represented by a particularly significant piece. On the upper
level of the "Great Hall" are the sections of the museum dedicated to
the Forum of Caesar and the temple of Mars Ultor in the Forum of
Augustus ("Memory of the ancient"). On the same floor, the museum
continues in the "central body" with the section dedicated to the Forum
of Augustus, also illustrating its function as a "model" for the forums
of the Roman provincial capitals.
The rooms in the upper part of
the Trajan's Markets, which house the museum, underwent major structural
and conservative restorations in the years 2005-2007. The museum will be
completed with the section on the Trajan's Forum, which will be housed
in the rooms of the "Testata classrooms", in direct contact with the
ancient remains, after the necessary restorations.
The museum
uses a mixed communication system, with traditional and video panels
that use multimedia technologies, with the aim of re-proposing the
connection between the materials on display, the ancient appearance of
the buildings to which they belonged and the remains of them preserved
in the archaeological areas. .