Rome is filled with interesting ancient buildings and monuments. One of these is Trajan’s Column, found in the ruins of Trajan’s Forum. which was erected by Emperor Trajan between 106-113 AD. It remains intact and provides important historic information.
The column is composed of white marble and is 125 feet (38 m) high including its base. On it is a spiral pictorial narrative measuring over 800 ft (240 m) in length. These reliefs contain more than 2600 figures in 155 scenes, which document the emperor’s two campaigns in Dacia (today’s Romania). The interior of the column is hollow, with a stone staircase leading to a viewing platform near the top. The interior is lite by 40 small windows.
At first the monument was capped by a bronze eagle and after Trajan’s death a bronze statue of him (his ashes were placed in a chamber at the base). This statue of Trajan was replaced in 1588 by a statue of St. Peter, which you see to this day. Originally the column was surrounded by buildings from whose galleries the various levels and details of the spiral band could be observed, but these obviously no longer exist.
