View Page: Campidoglio

	Campidoglio
	written by sariah / 09.28.2005

Section One

1 of 7

Introduction

http://www.romecity.it/ Campidoglio.htm

View of the Campidoglio

From an elevated perspective, it is possible to see the stellate design in the pavement, equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius and Piazzo dei Conservatori.

http://www.pitt.edu/ ~tokerism/0040/ images0/090.jpg

Capitoline Hill before Michelangelo's Redesign

The apex of Capitoline Hill in 1536 was a mixture of mud and pasture, without a cohesive architectural structure.

http://www.newgenevacenter.org /portrait/ michelangelo.jpg

Michelangelo

The redesign of the Campidoglio is one of Michelangelo's most important architectural acheivements.

By the time Pope Paul III commissioned Michelangelo to renovate the Capitoline Hill into a cohesive architectural square in 1536, this area had already achieved its reputation as a unique symbolic site in Roman history. It was atop the Capitoline Hill that Romulus, the founder of Rome, established the first sanctuary for new Roman citizens. In the 6th century BCE, the Temple of Jupiter was built on this site, where legend ascribes the name Capitoline to the excavation for this Temple. Because of Jupiter’s symbolic role as the special guardian god of Rome, most triumphal marches ended on top of the Capitoline with victorious generals making sacrifices at the Temple to thank the gods for their good fortunes. A matching temple to Juno was also built at this time.

In 78 BCE, the Tabularium or state archive, was built on Capitoline Hill. This marked the beginning of government offices on the Capitoline that have functioned continuously to modern day. During the following centuries, fires and restorations reshaped the nature of the Hill’s structure. In the Middle Ages, a towering fort that later became the Palazzo Senatorio was built on the site of the Tabularium, and this enormous fort eventually became the site of Senate meetings in 1143. A second building that is still standing today, called the Palazzo dei Conservatori, was completed in 1447-1455 as a seat for magistrates to whom the city administrators were responsible. Unfortunately, in ensuing decades, the Capitoline fell into disrepair. By the time Michelangelo received his commission in 1536 to redesign the Capitoline, the area had become a dirty, haphazard space where Senators conducted business amidst grazing livestock. It would require another 109 years of construction, including building the Palazzo Nuovo from 1603 to 1660, to create Michelangelo's cohesive Campidoglio Piazza that is visible today.

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