Circus Maximus

The Circus Maximus is an ancient Roman circus, dedicated to horse racing, built in Rome.

Located in the valley between the Palatine and the Aventine, it is remembered as a venue for games since the beginning of the history of the city: the mythical episode of the rape of the Sabine women took place in the valley, on the occasion of the games organized by Romulus in honor of the god Consus.

Certainly the large flat area and its proximity to the Tiber landing where commercial exchanges took place from the remotest antiquity, meant that the place constituted since the foundation of the city the elective space in which to conduct market activities and exchanges with other populations, and - consequently - also the related ritual activities (think of the maximum altar of Hercules) and socialization, such as games and competitions.

At 600 meters long and 140 meters wide, it is considered the largest man-made performance structure.

The scale model of Rome sells the entire architectural complex very well as it should have been originally.

Currently exhibited at the Museum of Roman Civilization, the model reconstructs the city as it was in the fourth century AD, starting with the Forma Urbis map of 1901 by Rodolfo Lanciani.

The model was created by the archaeologist Italo Gismondi, who worked on it all his life, that is, more than 40 years.

The initial nucleus was completed for a large exhibition that celebrated the 200th anniversary of Augustus' death, the Mostra Augustea della Romanità, which took place in 1937.

 

Gismondi began to work on it on commission from Mussolini inside the former Pantanella pasta factory, in 1933. , representing only the monumental center.

The model was then enlarged to include the entire urban area within the Aurelian Walls and definitively set up in the spaces dedicated to it in the Museum of Roman Civilization, inaugurated at EUR in 1955.

Map: Circus Maximus