Image credit: Sergey Dzyuba/Īs the only ancient Roman temple still fully intact and preserved, the Maison Carrée has clearly withstood the test of time. The podium has a gradual convex curve so that the side columns and capitals were built slightly smaller than those in the centre. The impressive facade is decorated with relief carvings and statuary while two levels of arches and columns seem to defy gravity, perched atop a 9-step high and 69-foot long podium. Once home to over 12,000 scrolls, the library began as a tomb and monument to the former governor of the city Ephesus, now in Turkey. Library of Celsus Celsus Library in Ephesus, Turkey. Surviving examples of these ancient health spas can be found in Italy at Caracalla and Pompeii, and as far Britain in the appropriately named city of Bath. Underfloor and interwall heating courtesy of terracotta pipes was hidden beneath frescoes, marble columns, and mosaics. Most Romans, however, visited public complexes that included pools, steam rooms, fountains, even libraries. Image credit: Antb/īringing together the best of Roman architecture like domes, vaults, and buttresses with engineering innovations of concrete, stucco, and hypocausts, Rome’s wealthiest citizens built baths inside their villas. Roman Baths Steam rising off the hot mineral water in the Great Bath, part of the Roman Baths in Bath, UK. Modern monuments like Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate and the Arc du Triomphe in Paris copy the opulent style and bronze four-horse chariot atop the arch, but nothing compares to the still existent Roman originals including The 69-foot high Arch of Constantine or the opulent Arch of Septimius Severus. Early examples were built in 196 BCE by Sterinius to commemorate victory in Spain, but as the empire grew so did the number and complexity of arches until Augustus declared they were only for emperors. These elegant yet imposing structures ensured everyone travelling on Roman thoroughfares knew its greatness. The real function of these city gates was to demonstrate architectural mastery, sculptural artistry and, of course, Rome’s great military victories. Read on to learn more about ten magnificent examples of ancient Roman architecture still as durable, useful, and beautiful as the day they were built more than 2,000 years ago. In his 10-volume On Architecture he states his belief that buildings should be constructed for durability, use, and beauty. Its most famous architect, Vitruvius, quite literally wrote the book on all facets of Roman techniques, skills, and materials. The wonders of Roman architecture were built to stand the test of time.

There are three styles of columns used in Roman architecture: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.The aqueduct at Pont du Gard carried 9 million gallons of water a day into the Roman city of Nemausus.The original name of the Roman Colosseum was the Flavian Amphitheatre.Claridge.View of Rome from Castel Sant'Angelo.

In recent decades, the classic works of Lanciani, Lugli, Ward-Perkins and MacDonald have been joined by the next generation of engineer-architects that have gleaned more detail and knowledge of Roman building: WM Jones, Lynne Lancaster, Janet DeLaine, A. Again, his specificity details the construction and maintenance of the water supply of Rome. His is a quintessential document, and a great place to start.įrontinus, in the reign of Nerva, sets forth in his book, On Aqueducts, the engineering and management of the aqueducts of Rome. He delves into theory, music, mathematics, logic, oratory, machines and construction of sacred and profane architecture. He outlines and demonstrates the discipline of architecture as we know it today, looking at natural landscape, local materials, planning, with specific examples.

One of the key documents that we possess today is the Augustan-age author and architect Vitruvius’ Ten Books of Architecture. How did the Romans become so successful, creating buildings and monuments that still visually impact on the viewer? Through centuries of experimentation and identifying what worked, using local materials and aspiring to other forms and ideas from their immediate neighbors, then empires and kingdoms with which they interacted, traded, fought.

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