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You are in: Home » Culture and leisure » Cultural heritage » Archaeological heritage » Obelisco Esquilino
Typology: Monuments

Address

Address: Piazza dell'Esquilino
Zone: Rione Monti (Colosseo-S.Giovanni-S.Maria Maggiore) (Roma centro)

Description

It is made of granite and is about 15 metres high. There are no inscriptions on the sides. Perhaps it was brought to Rome, together with the one now in Piazza del Quirinale, to adorn the Mausoleum of Augustus. The two obelisks, in fact, were found in the 16th century near the ruins of the monument, along the via di Ripetta. Since there is no mention of them in the sources mentioning the building of the Mausoleum in the first half of the 1st century AD, and it is certain that they should have adorned the monument before it was abandoned at the end of the 1st century, the obelisks must have been erected in the middle of the same century.

In an uncertain year of the early Middle Ages, they fell, each breaking into three pieces and ending up buried. The remains of one were excavated in 1519, at the time of Pope Leo X, and the architects Baldassarre Peruzzi and Antonio da Sangallo were able to take measurements and drawings. The pieces were then placed along the via di Ripetta, where they remained, waiting to be restored and obstructing the public street, for almost seventy years, until 1585, despite the repeated protests of the citizens.

Pope Sixtus V ordered their transfer and reconstruction behind the apse of St. Mary Major, entrusting the work to Domenico Fontana and his promising nephew Carlo Maderno, who had already been engaged in moving the Vatican obelisk.

The choice of the strange location was most likely inspired by the proximity, just behind the Basilica, of the large entrance portal to Villa Montalto Peretti, owned by the pope. In this way, the obelisk, which was finally erected in 1587, served as a signal and an ornament for two remarkable places in the city.

See also

Culture and leisure › Cultural heritage › Architectural and historical heritage
Last checked: 2023-03-27 14:59