Forum of Trajan and Trajan's Column

The columns of the Basilica Ulpia backed by Trajan's Column (and a pair of baroque church domes) in the Forum of Trajan, part of Rome's Imperial Fori. (Photo by Bgabel)

The Forum of Trajan's is home to Trajan's Column, a massive carved marble comic strip of the emperors accomplishments

Trajan's Column in the Forum of Trajan. (Photo by Longbow4u)The Forum of Tajan is marked by several rows of re-erected columns that once comprised merely the central part of the huge Basilica Ulpia, Rome's largest basilican law courts.

(Yes, the basilican plan was originally used for ancient Rome's legal courts. The earliest Christian churches to be built in Rome copied and modified the plan, which is why those oldest of the giant, airy houses of worship are called "basilicas.")

Behind the stumpy columns of the Basilica Ulpia rises the most stunning sight in all the Imperial Fori, the 98-foot Trajan's Column, today topped by a 16th-century statue of St. Peter.

Around the column wraps a cartoon strip of deep relief carvings that would measure some 660 feet if stretched out.

It uses a cast of 2,500 characters to tell the story of Trajan's victorious AD 101–106 campaigns to subdue the Dacians (modern-day Romania).

A spiral staircase inside leads to the top (currently closed, alas), and the emperor's ashes were kept in a golden urn entombed at the base.

It’s hard to see the carvings well (casts are kept at the Museo della Civiltà Romana in EUR), but you can get a better glimpse of some of them from the street level.

A detail of Trajan's Column
A detail of the carvings on Trajan's Column. (Photo by Mary Harrsch)(I hate to brag, but when I was a kid and they were cleaning and restoring the column, I was lucky enough to get to walk the scaffolding all the way to the top, mere inches from the ancient comic strip detailing the emperor's battles and victories; it was awesome.)

You can see all of the forum and the column pretty well from the road above, but you can also (sometimes) actually get down in there to wander amid the ruins. The (very worthwhile) Markets of Trajan across the street are open as a Museum of the Imperial Fori, and there is a connecting tunnel under the road (sometimes open) from there to the Forum of Trajan.

Tips & links

Details

ADDRESS

Via IV Novembre 94 (near the western end of Via Nazionale)
tel. +39-06-679-0048 or +39-06-0608
www.mercatiditraiano.it

OPEN

Tues-Sun 9am-7pm

ADMISSION

€13

Roma Pass: Yes (free)

How long does Trajan's Forum take?

Planning your day: Just to look at it and zoom in to snap a few pictures of the column takes about 10–15 minutes. However, if you plan to visit the adjacent Trajan's Markets, give it about 45 minutes total to wander the halls and empty corridors of the Trajan's Market area and then duck under the road to see the Forum as well (when the tunnel is open). Note that the ticket office closes an hour before the site. » Rome itineraries

Trajan's Forum tours

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