The 5 Greatest Roman Buildings Demolished during the Renaissance

hi i'm dr garrett ryan thanks for tuning in to totally stone for 500 years rome was the world's greatest and most impressive city for a thousand years after that rome was the world's greatest and most impressive corey the worst destruction took place during the renaissance when ambitious popes and nobles tore dozens of ruins apart for their building material this video explores five of the greatest casualties which included a fountain that was 100 feet tall a temple with columns the size of redwoods and the emperor constantine's masterpiece number five the temple of minerva a series of emperors constructed magnificent public plazas just north of the roman forum these complexes known collectively as the imperial forums were among the most impressive places in rome they gleamed with marble they glittered with bronze statues and most of them were centered on an imposing temple the smallest of the imperial forums was no exception it was built by the emperor domitian who was a tyrant but knew his way around a pile of marble after a mission was assassinated the form was rededicated to his successor nerva it consisted of a long and narrow plaza dominated at the north end by a temple of minerva after the fall of the roman empire the temple of minerva and the rest of nervous forum were gradually overtaken by decay farmhouses were constructed in the grand marble precinct and the columns and walls around the form collapsed into heaps of stone the temple of minerva however survived almost intact until the renaissance several artists drew the ruins showing the proud corinthian colonnade and the cella behind it in 1606 however pope paul v ordered the temple demolished for building material one huge block of marble became part of the altar of saint peter's basilica the columns were caught into slabs and used to decorate a new fountain the rest of the marble was built into the walls of the borghese chapel in santa maria maggiore where it still gleams today number four the septa zodium the pulse of the emperors was designed to impress and it usually succeeded its reception rooms were over 100 feet tall and surrounded by a vast maze of gardens chambers and baths since the palace covered almost the entire palatine hill later additions had to be constructed on colossal buttresses jutting up from the valley below at the beginning of the 3rd century ce after another extension of the palace the empire septimius severus decided to build an ornamental facade in front of these substructures and as a roman emperor he didn't do anything halfway the besides of timis built which faced one of the great roman highways was known as the septa zodium it was enormous about 100 feet tall and perhaps as much as 500 feet long and it was decorated with dozens of marble columns from every corner of the empire statues of the seven planetary gods stood in the first story haloed by the spray of fountains issuing from marble spouts early in the middle ages the central part of the septa zodium collapsed the surviving sections two towering spires of stone were both fortified and eventually integrated into a huge castle in the 13th century during a petty war between two roman clans one of the surviving sections of the septisodium was destroyed the other smaller section survived until 1588 when pope sexist v ordered it torn down for you guessed it building materials the stone was used all over rome and can still be seen in the eponymous four fountains of the via cuatro fontane in the facade of saint john lateran and in the chapel the pope sixtus added to santa maria maggiore number three the baths of constantine the romans loved their baths rich or poor every roman who would take the time spent part of their afternoon at a bath exercising socializing and sometimes even bathing by late antiquity there were almost a thousand bath buildings in rome most were small but a handful were gigantic complexes or thermi able to hold thousands of bathers at once the bats of constantine were the last great bathing complex like most large beds they consisted of a central building which contained the hot and cold pools and a series of exercise yards ringed by an elaborate enclosure wall although the soaring vaults and domes fell into ruin during the middle ages the bats of constantine were still standing in the 16th century contemporary drawings showed two large rotundas and high stone walls between 1605 and 1621 however cardinal scipione borghese the very wealthy and very corrupt nephew of pope paul v demolished the ruins to make room for his new palace now the plaza rose speliosi the cardinals builders simply leveled the ground leaving the foundations and service chambers of the baths intact underground when these were uncovered by a street widening program in the late 19th century excavators found several perfectly preserved statues apparently hidden in the bad's basement sometime in late antiquity the most famous of these statues the so-called seated boxer can be seen in rome's plaza massimo museum besides statues the only remains of the beds of constantine now visible are fragments of the foundations incorporated into the basement of the plaza respiliosi number two the temple of hercules and dionysus also known as the temple of therapists the most impressive temple in rome was a mysterious structure that stood atop the quirinol hill there are two competing theories about its identity some scholars think the temple was built by the impressive timia severus and dedicated to bacchus and hercules the opposing view is that it was constructed by septimius's son karakala and dedicated to serapis whoever built it and whichever god had honored the temple was enormous it was the only temple anywhere to have 12 columns along its facade most temples had only four or six each of those columns was more than 70 feet tall and six feet thick to give you an idea of how gargantuan that is the columns of the pantheon are only 40 feet tall the front of the temple faced a large courtyard its rear was connected to the campus marshes more than 70 feet below by grandiose double stairway despite its grandeur the temple of serapis became a white elephant fairly quickly it was already being plundered for building material a century after its completion and was likely a ruin by late antiquity the remains of its soaring walls however were fortified during the middle ages and a defensive tower was built atop one corner by the 16th century when the temple began to be drawn by artists all that remained was one corner of the facade and the broken remains of the grand staircase these ruins dominated the neighborhood until 1630 when they were demolished to make room for an expansion of the kelona family's palace little remains today of rome's most magnificent temple the bricking concrete substructures of the grand staircase can still be seen in the courtyard of the pontifical gregorian university and in the gardens of the plots of kelowna are two gargantuan fragments of the temples and tablature one of these fragments a block more than 15 feet tall and 100 tons in weight is thought to be the largest piece of marble in rome and finally number one old saint peter's basilica you might have seen this one coming since old saint peters was undoubtedly the most famous roman building demolished during the renaissance even contemporaries who admired the new basilica were shocked by the destruction of christendom's greatest church the old basilica had after all been begun by constantine himself and had accumulated 12 centuries of offerings and sanctity old saint peter's was a basilica with a transept in other words a long haul crossed at the altar end by a narrower hall at 350 feet long and nearly 125 feet high at the gable it was the largest early christian church visitors entered the basilica through an atrium an open courtyard centered on a fountain and liberally studded with medieval tombs rows of columns divided the interior of the church into five isles which culminated at the glowing marble screen around the high altar and tomb of saint peter dozens of chapels opened from the outer walls alternating with clusters of ancient and medieval tombs old saint peters was demolished in two stages the western half was torn down by pope julius ii in 1506 a few precious fragments were saved much more however was destroyed in a frantic rush that earned donato bermante the architect the nickname maestro ruinante master wrecker the eastern half of the old basilica was demolished a century later in 1606 the reigning pope paul v considered trying to save this part of the building and convened a council to consider the question the council reported that the walls were on the point of collapse and recommended demolition the pope agreed the process was more methodical this time and documented by the pope's secretary it was however equally destructive the tombs of dozens of ancient and medieval popes were torn to pieces one ancient sarcophagus was used to mix mortar another became a horse trough as i described in my video on the hidden history of saint peter's many parts of the old basilica were incorporated into the new there is no denying that the current church is one of the most magnificent structures ever built but one regrets that so much had to be destroyed to create it well that's a wrap for more on these buildings and much more on ancient renaissance rome check out toldenstone.com you might also be intrigued by my forthcoming book naked statues fat gladiators and war elephants frequently asked questions about the ancient greeks and romans in fantasies myself it is a ripping goodread i've got more videos in the pipeline so stay tuned and as always thank you very much for watching you

Channel: toldinstone

Views: 329,346

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Id: 4RJbcyIP9hM

Length: 11min 44sec (704 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 16 2021