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| Temple of Antoninus and Faustina | |
|---|---|
| Name | Temple of Antoninus and Faustina |
| Location | Roman Forum, Rome, Italy |
| Coordinates | 41.8925°N 12.4853°E |
| Type | Ancient Roman temple / Christian church |
| Built | 141 CE (dedication) |
| Founder | Emperor Antoninus Pius |
| Materials | Proconnesian marble, cipollino, travertine |
Temple of Antoninus and Faustina.
The monument stands in the Roman Forum and was dedicated in 141 CE by Antoninus Pius to his late wife Faustina the Elder and later rededicated to both deified figures, forming a focal point among monuments like the Curia Julia, Basilica Aemilia, and Rostra. Built during the High Roman Empire, the temple occupies a prominent position near the Via Sacra and has been reused through periods associated with Constantine I, Pope Honorius I, and the Renaissance figures linked to conservation such as Pope Sixtus V and Pope Pius VII.
Construction was ordered by Antoninus Pius and completed under the supervision of the senatorial class amid the social politics of the Antonine dynasty, contemporary with monuments like the Column of Antoninus Pius and the architectural programs of Hadrian. The dedication ceremony in 141 CE followed the deification rites recorded in senatorial decrees and imperial cult practice, paralleling commemorations for figures such as Livia Drusilla and Vespasian. During the late antiquity transformations of Rome under Theodosius I and the Christianization campaigns associated with Constantine I, the pagan context of the temple shifted as other Forum sites like the Temple of Romulus and the Temple of Saturn experienced conversion or ruin. Medieval chroniclers in the tradition of Jordanes and Liutprand of Cremona noted the building’s continued presence amid the urban reconfigurations driven by families such as the Farnese and Colonna.
The edifice is a peripteral Ionic hexastyle podium temple constructed with Proconnesian and Greek marbles, reflecting Hellenistic influences similar to the work of Apollodorus of Damascus and the masonry tradition seen at the Pantheon. Its high podium, frontal staircase, and engaged columns recall design vocabularies from the Temple of Portunus and the Temple of Hercules Victor's republican prototypes, while the cella walls incorporate opus latericium and marble revetment comparable to structures on the Palatine Hill. Surviving features include an entablature with frieze and cornice, capitals with Ionic volutes, and a carved pediment surface that once paralleled sculptural programs commissioned under Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. The temple’s alignment with the Via Sacra and proximity to the Arch of Titus influenced processional sightlines used in festivals like the Ludi Romani.
In the 7th century, the temple was consecrated as a Christian church, named San Lorenzo in Miranda, during an era of papal adaptations credited to figures such as Pope Honorius I and later restoration overseen by medieval curial authorities including Pope Gregory IV. This conversion followed patterns exemplified by adaptive reuse at sites like the Pantheon and the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, and it protected the monument from spoliation during the Papal States period under families like the Borghese and during urban projects by Pope Sixtus V. The Christian liturgical program introduced architectural accretions such as an apse and altar installations comparable to those found in churches rebuilt after the reforms of Pope Gregory I.
Original decorative schemes included statuary and dedicatory inscriptions honoring deified emperors, echoing sculptural programs of monuments like the Ara Pacis and the portraiture style of imperial workshops linked to Trajanic and Hadrianic ateliers. Medieval frescoes and altarpieces installed during the church phase referenced iconography associated with Saint Lawrence and were sometimes attributed in antiquarian inventories to artists active in Rome’s post-medieval revival alongside names appearing in correspondence with the Accademia di San Luca and patrons such as Cardinal Scipione Borghese. Marble spolia from earlier Republican and Hellenistic contexts, comparable to examples in the collections of the Museo Nazionale Romano, were reused for flooring and decorative veneers.
Systematic studies began with Renaissance antiquarians like Pietro Bembo and later scholars including Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Antonio Nibby, whose drawings and surveys informed 19th-century interventions by archaeologists attached to institutions such as the Accademia dei Lincei and the Commissione Archeologica Comunale. Excavations in the 20th century involved teams linked to the Sovrintendenza Archeologica di Roma and international researchers comparing stratigraphy with adjacent Forum trenches excavated by Giuseppe Fiorelli and later by Italo Gismondi. Conservation campaigns documented masonry repairs, the recovery of sculptural fragments now curated in the Capitoline Museums and the Musei Vaticani, and epigraphic evidence catalogued in corpora like the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.
The monument’s endurance from an imperial cult shrine to a Christian church and then to a protected archaeological monument exemplifies Rome’s palimpsest character seen across sites such as the Forum of Augustus and the Imperial Fora. It has influenced antiquarian scholarship associated with figures like Giorgio Vasari and shaped modern heritage practices under agencies such as the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and UNESCO dialogues about urban conservation alongside listings for other Rome landmarks like the Colosseum and the Vatican City. The temple continues to appear in studies of Roman religion, imperial iconography, and adaptive reuse that cite comparative examples from Athens to Constantinople and inform contemporary debates in classical archaeology and conservation policy.
Category:Ancient Roman temples in Rome Category:Roman Forum