The Arch Of Constantine in Rome

The Arch of Constantine, or Arco di Constantino in Italian, was built by the famous emperor Constantine to commemorate his victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 315 A.D.  It’s the most recent triumphal arch still existing in Rome, and has some unique characteristics that most others lack.

It’s an impressively large structure at twenty one meters high, seven and a half deep, and twenty-five and a half meters wide, with three distinctive archways. The central arch is the largest at eleven and a half meters wide, and it’s flanked by two smaller archways.

The design of the Arch of Constantine is similar to that used in the Arch of Septimus Severus, which is located at the Roman Forum. Both of them have main sections that sport detached columns, and have an upper portion called an attic that bears a main inscription.

Visiting the Arch of Constantine is easy to do if you’re in Rome, as it spans the ancient Via Triumphalis, or the road emperors used when returning to Rome in triumph. Locating the triumphal arch here says a lot about what Constantine though of himself, as well as about the message he wanted to send both to his rivals and to later people.

You’ll find the arch located extremely close to the Colosseum, and if you want to visit it, just take the Metro there. Of course, it’s also easy to add to a tour of Rome’s ancient ruins – there are plenty of them in this part of the city.

Depending on the light when you view the arch, you may notice a few things about it. First, not all parts of it seem to be made from the same stone, and some are even a slightly different color.

That’s because other monuments were used in the construction of the Arch of Constantine, including pieces used almost in their entirety of the lower part of the arch. The finished piece was made up of other architecture.

The lower portion of the arch is solid marble blocks, with a staircase located high up in the thickness of the arch and hard to access from the ground. The attic is brick with a marble facing.

Some people have said that this kind of borrowing was done in order to make construction go faster or to make up for the lack of skill of builders. It’s hard to say exactly why the arch was made this way, but it provides another interesting historical detail.

The arch itself was incorporated into a Medieval family stronghold, becoming part of another structure. It wasn’t until the eighteenth century that excavation and restoration started, and it was kept up until the late 1990s.

On your trip to Rome, you’ll probably be stopping to see a number of ancient monuments. Don’t forget to spend a few minutes appreciating the Arch of Constantine while you’re near the Colosseum. It’s really something to see.

Author: Luigi Effronicio

Tagged as: Italy