What is believed to be Rome’s largest fresco and mosaic complex has been opened for public viewing. The first-century AD artwork depicts a maritime city, situated within what later became the largest bath complex in the world. Mayor Robert Gualtieri presented the newly restored ‘Painted City’ fresco alongside the ‘Great Mosaic’ this week.
The works were first uncovered during 1990s excavations inside an underground gallery at the Baths of Trajan, located on Oppio hill near the Colosseum. The site is now open to the public for the first time, limited initially to small groups of 15 during a weekend trial period beginning this month. Officials aim to monitor how the delicate artwork handle increased humidity and climatic impacts prior to allowing broader entry.
Mr Gualtieri said that the fresco, displaying a walled port city from a bird’s-eye perspective, is the largest wall fresco of its kind from ancient Rome and as such ought to be open to the public. Rome’s cultural superintendent, Claudio Parisi Presicce, said the grandeur of the port city as depicted in the fresco, with buildings, a theater and temple, public piazzas and towers, was particularly well conserved. The mosaic measures about 15 metres (49 feet) high and features intricately decorated columns and architectural elements and figures over four different levels.
The top levels appear as a theatrical scene, while at the bottom are designs of another depiction of a port city that were only recently discovered during the restoration. The Baths of Trajan, which were dedicated by Emperor Trajan in 109 AD, extended over six hectares (15 acres) and were at the time the largest bath complex in the world. They incorporated an earlier baths complex, the Domus Aurea, and were designed on a different trajectory to take better advantage of the water temperatures to optimise the thermal experience for users.
The complex now open to the public includes a grand semicircular upper-level “library” which archaeologists believe was part of the baths complex and allowed users not only to practice sport and bathe but also to participate in cultural activities. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
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