Rome - Day 2

The month is February 2015, and today was the big day - I was going to see Coliseum! My friend Leah and I were in Rome for the second day of our three-day trip and we couldn't wait to see the famous ancient landmark. But first, why not stop at one of Rome's most impressive churches?

This is Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, first built in 432. Check out that gilded Renaissance ceiling

Another look at the ceiling

A chamber within the church called the Sistine Chapel. No, not that Sistine Chapel, although we were to see that famous one the next day

The tomb of Pope Sixtus V, who revived a shabby medieval Rome by buildling up great boulevards and securing impressive obelisks, all of which we still see today

The Reliquary of the Holy Crib is said to contain wood from the Holy Crib of the nativity of Jesus

The exterior of the basilica

Another church served as our next pre-Coliseum stop: the Church of Santa Prassede, built in 822. This is a super well-preserved Byzantine mural in a side chapel

Not wanting to end the anticipation too soon by running straight to the Coliseum, we next stopped at St. Peter-in-Chains, founded in 440 and redone in 1475. 

This large, two-story structure features Michelangelo's statues, all of which were meant to adorn the tomb of Pope Julius II. He died before finishing the grand tomb, which was originally going to be five times as big and was intended to reside in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. The middle bottom figure is a tensed, powerful Moses

These two sets of chains, one used to imprison Peter in Rome and the other in Jerusalem, miraculously joined together when they were brought close to each other. Here they reside now

Finally! We could rest our eyes upon the Coliseum for the very first time in our lives. We only dwindled for a short time though, since we had a lot to see on the grounds around the ancient arena before we actually went in. 

The Arch of Constantine commemorates a military coup that brought Constantine to power, who then legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire

We first explored a hilltop full of historically significant ancient ruins. Most of the ruins once belonged to a palace, built in AD 81, that served as a residence for three centuries' worth of emperors. Which makes sense, since the English word "palace" stems from the name of the hill - Palatine Hill.

The palace's garden and exercise area

Here in the private rooms of the palace, the arch-shaped niches in the walls once held statues. The holes in the brick walls once held supports for either beams, shelves, or marble facades

There used to be a huge fountain in this courtyard on the right

The long stretch of empty space at the back right of this photo is the Circus Maximus, where wildly popular chariot races were held for 1,000 years. The grassy bank shows where wooden bleachers once stood

Statue remnants

It was here that, 850 years before Christ, Romulus founded and lived a hut village that later grew and became the city of Rome. These huts were only unearthed in the 1940s

The Roman Forum, our next pre-Coliseum stop

The Coliseum is right there, as you can see. There is simply so much history in this little area. The huge arched building on the left is all that remains of the Basilica of Constantine, a hall of justice that used to be three times as big

Continuing our blast to the ancient past, we visited the Roman Forum at the feet of Palatine Hill. This was the political, religious, and commercial center of ancient Rome. It could thus be seen as the founding place of modern civilization and democracy! 

The Arch of Titus commemorates yet another Roman military victory, this time over Israel in AD 70. The victory not only provided Rome with 50,000 Jewish slaves (who built this arch and the Coliseum), it also started the Diaspora. The big square in the middle of the ceiling shows Titus riding an eagle to heaven

The columns and staircase are left over from the Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina. Pillagers and scavangers tried to cut down the enormous marble columns with rope but failed to do anything except leave behind the deep scars you see towards the top

The Temple of Vesta, whose sacred eternal flame was tended to by the six high priestesses known as the Vestal Virgins. If a Vestal Virgin lost her virginity, she was buried alive

Here is the original main square of Rome, once surrounded by important, impressive buildings, where the ancient city’s one million inhabitants would relax or shop

The hill in the background is the hill we had just visited, Palatine Hill

The Temple of Saturn, built 497 BC

Enough buildup - time to go into the 2,000-year-old Coliseum!

Gladiators, criminals, wild animals – all were fair game when it came to the deadly battles that were shown here in the enormous arena known as the Coliseum. Built in AD 80 and originally known as the Flavian Amphitheater, it could fit 50,000 to 80,000 fans. It hosted public spectacles all the way until the 500s, when it began to be dismantled for construction materials.

A good look at the underground passages that were concealed by the arena’s wooden floor

No seats or bleachers survive today. The top side of the arena is mostly gone too, although naturally it once circled around the entire structure. There was also an awning that shaded the stands

After having thoroughly explored the remnants of the ancient stadium and read everything that travel expert Rick Steves had to say about it, we moved south to visit the Church of San Giovanni in Laterno. This was the first Christian church in all of Rome, opened in AD 318. Today, it’s the home church of the Bishop of Rome, who is also known as the Pope.

This facade is just from the 1700s. Yawn. Once one passes the threshold and enters the church, he is technically within the Vatican State

Most of the decor was done in the 1600s by Borromini, who, as I mentioned in the last post, was the great Bernini's apprentice-turned-rival before he (Borromini) killed himself. Among his additions are the huge statues of the Apostels on the sides

Moving on from churches - another look at the Palatine Hill palace from the Circus Maximus

Just kidding, we stopped at another church next. But this was no ordinary church – it was the Santa Maria in Cosmedin, which has the famous La Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth) in its portico! Starting in the Middle Ages, it was believed that if one told a lie while his hand was in the sculpture, the hand would be bitten off. We were not the only ones who wanted a picture with the mouth. Upon our arrival, we found ourselves at the back of a 40-minute line, which is pretty ridiculous when you consider that it’s just a stone mouth. But I have no regrets.

Inside the much less exciting church itself, although it is pretty neat that it is an unaltered interior left over from medieval times

Seeing 2,500-year-old temples, the world’s most famous stadium, a polygraphic stone mouth, and ancient Roman ruins once traversed by the likes of Caesar wasn’t enough for one day, in our opinion. We climbed up Capolitine Hill next.

The Piazza del Campidoglio here at the top was designed by Michelangelo, who placed the Marcus Aurelius statue at its center (the stairs in the photo above are his work as well). The hill is the center of city government, as it has been for 2,500 years: the building behind the statue is the mayoral palace

More importantly, the hill was a great spot to grab some photos of Rome at sunset

The big tall column is Trajan’s Column, which is decorated with a spiral relief of 2,500 figures depicting the emperor’s accomplishments. It was, like most statues and monuments in ancient Rome, originally painted in bright colors

Emperor Trajan presided over Rome and its empire during its prime (around 100 AD). He used riches from conquests to expand the city center, since the nearby Roman Forum was no longer big enough. This building likely had shops, warehouses, and administration offices

Here we are inside the Victor Emmanuel Monument, a huge structure celebrating Italian unity. When you regard the monument from the Roman Forum (from which it is clearly visible), the 1861 structure looks a little out of place since it is glaringly white, absolutely enormous, and built in a mixture of Greek and Teutonic styles

Here it is from the front, viewed from the square in which Mussolini once had his office

The equestrian statue is one of the biggest in the world. Just his mustache is five feet long. Underneath the statue is Italy's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Another look at Trajan's forum

Trajan's marketplace

After some thin-crust, Roman-style pizza, we stoppped by the Coliseum one last time and took a train north to see even more of the city before we called it a night

Piazza del Popolo, which served as the northern entrance into Rome for droves of medieval pilgrims who came all the way here by foot from all over Europe

We found ourselves at the Spanish Steps once more. The "sinking boat" fountain at the bottom of the photo was made by Bernini's father. It's very low to the ground since the aqueduct feeding it does not provide much water pressure

The Fountain of Moses by night

And with that, our marathon day of sightseeing had finally come to an end. We had been out from our hostel from 9:30 am straight until 10 pm, and I have the multitude of pictures to prove it. Thankfully, we had one more day in Rome to enjoy the Vatican.

An interesting note: I use my phone GPS to get around, including when I'm traveling. I recently found out Google records and keeps your location history. This means I can retrace our exact steps that day, even now as I am writing this post two and half months after we were there in the eternal city! Here was our demanding route, all traversed by foot except for the one straight line that represents when we boarded the subway:

That's what you have to do when you only have 2.5 days to see all of Rome!

One last thing. I am participating in a special project along with a few other participants in my program. We came up with the idea of trying to guage attitudes towards civic participation in  the U.S. vs. Germany. No matter whether you think politics is a total bore or if you are a policy wonk in training, I need your opinion! Please fill out our survey here. Thanks! 

Pictures from the Vatican are on the horizon.