What did Ancient Rome look like from above?
Italian architect Italo Gismondi took almost 35 years to create a detailed model of Rome during the time of Emperor Constantine (first half of the 4th century AD). Work on the plaster model of the Eternal City at a scale of 1:250 began as early as 1933 on the personal directive of Mussolini, who decided to commemorate the anniversary of Augustus in this way.
Completed in 1955, the 16x16 meter model was placed in the Museum of Roman Civilization. After some time, the author expanded the model and worked on it until 1971, increasing the area to 200 sq. meters. The detailed model of Imperial Rome and its surroundings was used in the 2000 film “Gladiator” by R. Scott.
The predominant type of residential buildings in Rome at the beginning of the 4th century were multi-apartment insulae, of which there were over 46,000, compared to only 1,800 mansions. Rome had about 900 baths, 420 temples, 28 libraries, 19 major aqueducts, 35 triumphal arches, 80 golden statues, and a large number of bronze and marble ones. Shrines of guardian gods were practically present at all crossroads.
