Rome Architecture

Rome, a birthplace of Western Civilization

Many people think that architects travel only to see buildings. They imagine that we drag our friends and families around the globe in search of every building by every notable architect that has ever lived just so that we can take the exact same photos of said buildings that we saw in our history books and monographs. This may be true of some architects, but not this one…most of the time. As I plan for a trip, if there is a building I know is important to the history of our civilization or to modern architecture, I definitely seek it out. Unfortunately, I am not the best student of ancient or modern architectural history or of current architecture. It is more likely that I will turn a corner and see something vaguely familiar only to find out two days later that it was designed by last year’s Pritzker Prize winning architect (currently the highest honor an architect can receive) or Michelangelo. Or I won’t turn a corner only to find out that I missed one of the masterpieces of our time. When this happens, I feel as though I am letting my profession down because I should have known better.

This happened two days ago…we had already walked 12 miles and were basically forced to go to the steps of the Vittorio Emmanuel Monument by the waves of tourists going in that direction. It was great to see up close because it is obviously a significant architectural monument that we had seen from a distance all week. Then when I was back at our apartment doing more research, I discovered that in our exhausted herding towards Vittorio, we completely missed one of the most important architectural and urban design sites of our time. Not 100 feet away is the Michelangelo designed piazza on Capitoline Hill, also known as Capidoglio. The piazza took centuries to finish, but the design has had an impact on nearly every city in the western world since the 1500s. I had been to the there in college, but I’m sad we missed it on this trip. Next time.

The Colosseum

The Vatican Museum animal room

Painted floor tile at the Vatican Museum

Saint Peter’s Basilica at dusk from Ponte Sant’Angelo

The main dome at Saint Peter’s Basilica

Altar mosaic at Saint Peters Basilica

One of the Three venues at Auditorium Parco Del Musica by Renzo Piano

Old School & New School Meet – The MAXXI by Zaha Hadid

MAXXI Interior

Nik on the steps in front of the Supreme Court building

Nik’s Blog: The Last Three Days in Rome