The Roman Capitol for tourists - from the hut of Romulus and Remus to the works of Michelangelo. Capitoline Square in Rome and its architectural features Oval Capitoline Square in Rome

- one of the 7 sacred hills where Ancient Rome was founded and where its history originated. Here prayers were offered to the ancient gods, laws were approved, patrician castles were erected and Renaissance masters worked. Hundreds of thousands of travelers from all over the world come to Rome every year to see the Capitoline Hill and touch its 1000th history.

...The history of the Capitoline Hill in Rome began precisely from the moment when the twins Romulus and Remus were found, who, taking pity on the babies, fed them with her milk.

History and ancient temples of the Capitol

Maybe in memory of his salvation or for another reason, however, Romulus chose this very place to build a new city, giving it the name Rome.

At the beginning of the 5th century BC, the Capitoline Temple was built on this site. It was built in honor of the ancient Roman gods - Jupiter, Minerva and Juno. Here the Senate met, sacrifices were made and laws were created. For the Romans, the temple was not only the center of religion, but the personification of strength and power, a symbol of the power of the Roman Republic, and later the Empire.

The collapse of the empire led to the degradation and devastation of the Capitoline Temple. Other structures were built on ancient ruins, and at certain times the Capitoline Hill in Rome served only as a place for grazing goats.

Michelangelo and the Renaissance of the Capitol

The Capitoline Hill in Rome regained its former greatness thanks to the decision of Pope Paul III (1534 - 1549), a great connoisseur of art and science. Under him, Michelangelo began the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral in , painted the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, and in 1537, by order of the pontiff, he took up the reconstruction of buildings and the reconstruction of Capitol Square.

And although the death of the master (1564) did not provide the opportunity to complete the plan (the restoration was completed by the students), the ensemble of the Capitoline Square, created by Michelangelo, is the most complete and harmonious among all the squares of Rome.

In the center of the trapezoidal square is an equestrian statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, which has miraculously survived from the ancient period. And on its three sides are located: the Palace of Senators (now the city hall), the Palace of the Conservatives and its twin brother Palazzo Nuovo, built in the 17th century. Both buildings house the Capitoline Museums, where you can look at legendary paintings by artists, antique sculptures, porcelain, coins, ancient costumes, a statue of the Capitoline She-Wolf, and more.

From the fourth - open side - you can go down to the residential areas along the legendary Cordonata staircase. In the lower part, at the base, it is “guarded” by marble sculptures of Egyptian lions, and at the top are statues of the twin brothers Castor and Pollux, discovered during excavations in Pompeii in 1583. Behind the Dioskouri, along the balustrade, there are a number of more statues: Emperor Constantine, his son Constantine II, mileposts from the Appian Way and statues from the ancient fountain “Mario's Trophies”.

Capitoline Hill in Rome: Insula and Mamertine Prison

And considering that little has survived from the ancient buildings on the Capitol to the present day, in terms of their historical significance these two buildings can give a head start to a dozen others. And one of them is the ancient Roman insula - a multi-story building in which apartments were given out for rent.

The ruins of a similar insula (II AD) are located before the ascent to the Capitoline Hill in Rome, on the left side of the stairs leading to the Basilica of Santa Maria in Araceli. Of the hypothetical 5 floors, the 4th is perfectly preserved, however, even from them we can guess what the structure looked like in the past. According to sources, the first floors were usually occupied by artisans' shops and workshops. Apartments on the 2nd floor with a toilet and, very rarely, running water, could only be afforded by wealthy citizens. And on the upper floors, deprived of amenities, the poor settled. Each floor had its own staircase, stone or wooden.

- the most ancient landmark of the Capitol, built according to various sources either in the 6th or 4th centuries BC. In the 2nd underground building, both statesmen and common criminals awaited execution.

According to the parable, the apostles Peter and Paul lived their last days here, for whose glory a small altar with frescoes of saints was erected in the dungeon. After the liquidation of the prison (late 4th century), many pilgrims began to go there to venerate the saints, and in the 16th century the Church of St. Joseph the Carpenter was built over the former prison.

Anyone can go there and kneel before the faces of the saints; entry into the dungeons of the former dungeon, and now a museum, is completely free.

In order to avoid long queues at the entrance to the Mamertine prison, we buy tickets in advance via the Internet.

Address: Via Clivo Argentario 1. You can get there by metro, get off at Colosseo station.
Opening hours: every day from 9.00 to 18.30. Short break from 12.30 to 14.00.

Basilica of the Virgin Mary (Santa Maria in Aracoeli)

The Basilica of Santa Maria in Araceli was built on the site of the ancient temple of Juno Moneta, which translates from Latin as “counselor”. By the way, Roman banknotes were called by the name of the goddess - coins - and were minted on the territory of the temple. This is where the well-known words “coin” and “money” come from.

The legend about how geese saved Rome also has a connection with the Temple of Juno. This bird, revered as sacred in the temple, in the middle of the night, sensing “strangers”, raised the guards to their feet with a cackle, and they, accordingly, protected Rome from the advance of the Gauls.

The Capitoline Hill in Rome contains the Basilica of the Virgin Mary, which also has its own legend, which can be traced in its name. According to the parable, Emperor Octavian Augustus had a prophetic dream - a holy virgin holding the son of God in her arms. The vision struck the emperor so much that he decided to build an altar on the top of the hill, calling it “Aracoeli” (Altar of Heaven). The discovered artifacts and inscriptions, by their presence, in fact confirm this legend. And the altar, built in honor of Jesus even before his birth, is considered the most ancient of all Christian altars.

Now the basilica preserves the relics of St. Helena and the miraculous icon of the Madonna of Aracheli (10th century), the tombs of famous Roman families with tombstones made by famous masters of the Renaissance.

Where is it and how to get to the Capitol and museums

Address: Piazza del Campidoglio

You can get to the Capitoline Hill in Rome by metro: from Colosseo station (line B) to the Capitol – 10-15 minutes on foot. You need to move along Via Dei Fori Imperiali in the direction of Piazza Venezia along the Roman Forum, which will be on the left side.

By bus: Nos. 30, 51, 81, 83, 85, 87, 118, 160, 170, 628, 810. Get off at the Ara Coeli-Piazza Venezia stop.

Opening hours and weekends

The Capitoline Hill in Rome and the ancient monuments on it are open to the public 24 hours a day.

• Opening hours of the Basilica of the Virgin Mary: from 8.00 to 19.00, daily services are held from 8.00 to 12.00. The entrance is free.
• Opening hours Capitol Hill in Rome - museums: every day from 9.30 to 19.30, one hour before the museums close, access to visitors is prohibited.
• On December 24 and December 31, the museums are open: from 9.30 to 14.00.
• Closed: December 25, January 1, May 1.

Tickets to the Vatican bypassing the queue.

In Italian, the Capitol sounds like Monte Capitolino - Capitoline Mountain. This is the most flat of the hills on which Rome was built. The height of the hill is 46 m.

At its top is the Capitol Square (Piazza del Campidoglio), in the middle of which stands a bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius. Along the perimeter of the square are the Palace of Senators (Palazzo Senatorio), the Palace of the Conservatives (Palazzo dei Conservatori), Palazzo Nuovo or the New Palace (Palazzo Nuovo) and the Basilica of Santa Maria in Araceli.

In the Capitol Square the Senate met and the building of the state archive - Tabularium - was located.

In the 5th century BC, the Capitoline Temple was built here in honor of three main ancient Roman gods: Jupiter and Minerva. Some of these structures were burned and looted, others were rebuilt and changed their original purpose. As a result, the square became dilapidated and fell into such disrepair that in the 5th century AD. goats grazed around her.

Capitol Hill received a new lease of life in 1536 thanks to the arrival of the Spanish King Charles V in Rome. Pope Paul III, as the owner of the city, simply felt ashamed of such a deplorable state of the Capitol. They decided to entrust the work on the project to (Michelangelo Buonarroti), the most famous court artist and architect at that time. Alas, he managed to implement only a small part of his plan. After Michelangelo's death, his students took over the restoration. The square acquired its final form, preserved to this day, only in 1654.

Architecture

If you look at it from a bird's eye view, the area has the shape of a trapezoid. Thus, Michelangelo made it visually open to the city and visitors.

At the head is the Palace of Senators, on the sides are the Palace of the Conservatives and the Capitoline Museum. To the left and right of the square are marble personifications of rivers and the Nile. The entire ensemble is filled with hidden allusions to various events and personalities. Art historians studying Michelangelo's work are still deciphering his hidden messages. Perhaps you will be able to solve one of them after visiting Rome.

Palace of Senators (Palazzo Senatorio)

Built in the 1st century BC, the Palace of Senators served as an archive, but was empty for a long time in the Middle Ages, gradually collapsing. The second life of the palace began during the reconstruction of the entire square. Now the city hall is located here, so most of the premises are closed to the public. You can only enter the Lapidarium, a museum dedicated to the inscriptions on stone slabs telling about life and politics in Ancient Rome, and the ancient underground corridors of the Tabularium.

Palace of the Conservatives (Palazzo dei Conservatori)

Erected in the 15th century, the building of the Palace of the Conservatives served as a meeting room for senators and judges, called conservatories, which gave it its name. Now it houses a museum of marble busts from the era of Ancient Rome, frescoes and the Pinakothek, in which exhibited paintings by Rubens, Velazquez and Caravaggio.

A separate room is dedicated to the famous one, which has become a symbol of Rome.

Etruscan and Greek artifacts are exhibited in the Castellani Room, and collections of coins and jewelry are displayed in the Capitoline Coin Museum.

Palazzo Nuovo

As you can tell from the name, Palazzo Nuovo is the newest building in the entire architectural ensemble. Erected in the 17th century, it became a copy of the Palace of the Conservatives and was originally supposed to become a museum. In the long galleries and atrium you can see ancient Greek and Roman sculptures.

The three palaces listed above are part of the Capitoline Museum. The exhibitions have the same opening hours and can be visited with a single ticket.

• Working hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 20:00.
• Ticket price: complex ticket - 15 euros, reduced ticket - 13 euros.

Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli

The Basilica of Santa Maria in Araceli was built on the site of the pagan temple of Juno Moneta. The basilica was originally a Greek monastery, and then belonged to various monastic orders - the Benedictines and Franciscans, who completed and consecrated it in 1921. It is worth paying attention to the carved wooden ceiling, the 13th century icon of Our Lady on the altar of the basilica, and the sculpture of the baby Jesus, which has miraculous properties.

• Working hours: daily from 9:00 to 17:30.
• Ticket price: for free.

The statue of Marcus Aurelius was miraculously saved during the Christian struggle against paganism, and only because the face of Marcus Aurelius turned out to be similar to the face of Constantine. The pedestal of the statue itself is made from a column from the temple of Castor and Pollux. The Capitoline Venus in the New Palace also almost suffered a sad fate if the inhabitants of Rome had not sheltered her from reprisals. The liberated statue saw the light of day only in the 17th century.

Silver was once minted on the grounds of the Temple of Juno Coins. Having released a new monetary unit, the goddess Coin was depicted on it, after which the name of metal money “coin” spread throughout the world.

According to legend, the statue of the Capitoline Wolf was cast by the Etruscans in the 5th century BC, but when they began restoring it in 2010, experts came to the conclusion that it could not have been made at that time, but only in the Middle Ages.

How to get there?

• Address: Piazza del Campidoglio
• Capitoline Hill is a twenty-minute walk from, close to the Roman Forum and Piazza Venezia.
• Get to: Line B, Colosseo station.
• By bus: No. 30, 51, 81, 83, 85, 87, 118, 160, 170, 628, 810 to the Ara Coeli-Piazza Venezia stop.
• By tram: No. 8 to the Venezia stop (final).

• Backpackers: You can climb up the Lorenzo di Simone Andreozzi staircase, but be prepared for a steep climb. The main staircase of the Cordonata complex is much more convenient, as it is made in the form of a stepped ramp. To avoid crowds of tourists, you need to go a little to the right and find an inconspicuous gentle staircase with a pergola, which locals use to climb in comfort and in the shade.
• Official site: www.comune.roma.it

↘️🇮🇹 USEFUL ARTICLES AND SITES 🇮🇹↙️ SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS

Capitoline Hill (Italy) - description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.

• Tours for the New Year to Italy
• Last minute tours to Italy

Previous photo Next photo

According to legend, the Capitoline Hill is one of the seven hills on which the Eternal City of Rome arose. Few people know that this most important and significant hill, it turns out, is also the lowest and smallest in area.

Today the Capitol is the center of Rome. And although neither the Temple of Jupiter nor the Temple of Minerva has been here for a long time, the flow of tourists does not dry up for a single day. Almost everything that a contemporary sees was created by the greatest artist and architect Michelangelo Buonarroti. Following his brilliant plan, the master created the Capitoline Square, rebuilt the façade of the Palace of Senators, and designed the famous Cordonata staircase made of white marble, which all travelers who find themselves in Rome dream of climbing.

Anyone can visit Capitol Hill completely free of charge. True, you will have to pay to visit the museums and temples located here. There is no time limit for visiting the hill. But it is advisable to get here during daylight hours in order to better see all the splendor of the Capitol: see with your own eyes a copy of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, Egyptian lions standing at the foot of the stairs, the Basilica of Santa Maria in Araceli.

How to find: Piazza Aracoeli, near the southern bank of the Tiber, northwest of the Palatine Hill, above the valley

Capitoline Hill in Rome- the smallest in area and height of the seven hills of Rome (46 meters above sea level). The Capitol is the most important hill of Rome, where the temples of Minerva and Jupiter were built in ancient times.

You can climb Capitol Hill using three staircases. Central staircase with border(Cordonata) by Michelangelo Buonarotti is wider and flatter. Its base is guarded by two sculptures of ancient Egyptian lions made of marble. The central staircase is decorated with Trophies of Mario, statues of Constantine and Constantine II, two messenger pillars from the Apian Way. The top of the staircase is crowned two statues of Dioscuri(twins Pollux and Castor) surrounded by horses, brought from the Theater of Pompey during excavations in the 16th century. To the left is a staircase that climbs 122 steps to the Cathedral of Santa Maria in Aracele. To the right of the road, an inconspicuous staircase leads up the hill.

Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracele at the top of the Capitoline Hill is the most revered temple in Rome. Previously, this place housed the “Altar of the Firstborn of the Lord” and the ancient temple of Juno Moneta, in which denarii (Roman money) were printed. Since then, the name “coin” (small money made from an alloy) has come into use. Emperor Augustus had a vision here of the “birth of the Son of God.”

The she-wolf is a symbol of Rome. Opposite is a stele with a copy of the She-Wolf made of bronze.

Main Square of the Capitol, bounded by the Palace of the Senators, the Palace of the Guardians and the New Palace, acquired its appearance by 1536 thanks to the project of Michelangelo Buonarotti. This project was carried out by order of Pope Paul III and dedicated to the visit of King Charles V (from sketches and drawings to the design and arrangement of building facades, as well as the design of the piazza). Work on the unique star-shaped paving of the Capitoline Square was carried out only in 1940. Today, the architectural ensemble of the Capitol is the seat of the Roman Municipality. A stele with a copy of the bronze monument to the legendary “She-Wolf” (symbol of Rome), transferred here from the Lateran, and a fountain adorn the Capitoline Square near the Palace of Senators. Here it is the most luxurious observation deck on the beauty of Rome and the Forum. The bronze statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, which occupies the center of the square (copy), is the only equestrian statue of Rome that has come down to descendants from ancient times (2nd century AD).

The central place in the square is occupied by Palace of Senators with two flights of stairs. The statue of “Rejoicing Rome” with a ball in his hand (a symbol of the dominance of Rome) is located in a niche under the stairs, also designed by Michelangelo, and the two statues on the sides are the personification of the Tiber and Nile rivers.

Sights of the Palace of Senators:

• City Hall;
• Hall of Councils;
• Hall of Flags;
• Capitoline Collection of Celebrity Busts – Protomotheque (1950).

New Palace- This is the Capitoline Museum, which houses the original marble equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius and monuments of ancient art “The Wounded Amazon”, “The Dying Gaul”, “The Statue of a Satyr with a Bunch of Grapes”. The sights of the New Palace are the Halls of the Philosophers and the Imperial Hall, decorated with 65 busts of the emperors of Rome.

Palace of the Guardians- This is museum. The main pearl of the museum is the bronze sculpture of the “Roman She-Wolf” who suckled Remus and Romulus (original, 5th century BC). The art gallery of the Palace of the Guardians delights visitors with masterpieces by Velazquez, Caravaggio, Titian, and Rubens.

Via San Pietro in Carcele- the street of antiquities in Rome, leading to the Forum of Caesar. The Forum of Caesar is the first of the five Imperial Forums of Rome (54-46 AD). Caesar's Forum today is a rectangular area surrounded on three sides by an arched gallery. The ruins of the Temple of Venus the Progenitor (3 columns with a beam) are the main attraction of the Forum of Caesar.

September 27, 2018

On the Capitoline Hill there is one of the most significant architectural monuments of the Eternal City, which has survived to this day from the Middle Ages almost unchanged. The Capitoline Square in Rome was designed in the 16th century by Michelangelo Buonarroti, but it took on its final form, conceived by the brilliant master, only in 1940.

From the very foundation of Rome, the temples built on the Capitoline Hill cherished its holiness, and the hill itself was the symbol and focus of the power of Roman civilization. A real rivalry developed between the richest families for dominance over this place through the construction of the most important public buildings. Over the centuries, the architectural history of the Capitol has been closely intertwined with the history of the various government institutions from which Roman senators and consuls ruled the city and the world.

Construction of the Capitoline Square began in the middle of the 16th century. The vaunted political center clearly did not live up to its appearance - the area surrounding the hill was in a neglected state and was even used for grazing goats, earning the name “Monte Caprino”, that is, “Goat Hill”.

After the triumphal reception of Emperor Charles V, who visited Rome in 1536, Pope Paul III Farnese ordered Michelangelo to prepare a comprehensive project for the reconstruction of the Capitol.

The architect based the developed concept on the original trapezoidal shape of the new Capitol Square. To do this, it was necessary to build another building opposite the Palace of the Conservatives, called the New Palace, which covered the Basilica of Santa Maria in Araceli, which interfered with the visual perception of Michelangelo’s plan. The two buildings, positioned at a slight angle from each other, created a widening vista that focused attention on the Palace of the Senators for all who ascended Capitol Hill via the central staircase.

Thus, the architect created an autonomous space, completely independent from the city surrounding the Capitol Square. The artist intended to decorate its center with an intriguing geometric pattern, but the implementation of his idea became possible only after several hundred years...

Capitoline Square: The secret meaning of Michelangelo's drawing

Michelangelo sought to show the inextricable connection between Etruscan culture and ancient Rome. However, installing an oval stone, such as in Delphi, in the center of the Capitoline Square was impossible - the Christian church did not allow the placement of any pagan symbols. The architect developed a model of the stone Omphalos encrypted in the drawing. The idea behind his intriguing design was that the city should once again become Umbilicus Caput Mundi, the "Navel of the Center of the World."

In his project, the artist inscribed a rhombic pattern into the oval, which diverged from the center of a 12-rayed star. In Babylonian astrology, the zodiac zone was divided into twelve equal parts called signs. Each of them was attributed certain metaphysical properties and the names of constellations located along the ecliptic were assigned. Thus, according to Michelangelo's plan, the Capitol Square in Rome was, as it were, in the center of the constellations, showing that the center of the World is located here. The very structure of the geometric design of the brilliant artist caused an optical illusion of the convex surface of the square, giving the feeling of a huge sphere.

Probably, this model of the Capitoline Square, encrypted in Michelangelo's project, has been solved. By order of Paul III, Farnese, instead of the ornament designed by the artist, was placed in its center in 1538. A bronze equestrian statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius was placed, for which the architect designed a pedestal. The sculpture, which previously adorned the square near the Lateran Basilica, miraculously survived only because it was mistakenly taken for a statue of Emperor Constantine, who stood up for Christianity and stopped their persecution.

In 1979 As a result of a terrorist attack, the equestrian statue of Aurelius was damaged by an explosion and was under restoration for almost ten years. Today, the original sculpture is kept on the ground floor of the Palais des Conservatoires, and the Capitol Square is decorated with a copy of it, installed here in 1997.

Capitol Square in Rome - the secret meaning of Michelangelo's project