(ANSA) – ROME, MAY 23 – The Dioscuri, the Ancient Roman statues of demigods Castor and Pollux that have welcomed visitors to Rome’s Campidoglio (Capitol Hill) since the 16th century, were unveiled in all their former glory Friday after a 240-day restoration for the Roman Catholic Jubilee Holy Year.
Saluting the return of the sons of Jupiter and Leda, Capitoline superintendent Claudio Parisi Presicce said “one is mortal and the other human, who exchanged their nature every six months and are therefore the symbol of fraternal harmony.
“And this Hill is the symbol of welcome”.
Rome Mayor Robero Gualtieri said this message was “fully in line with the Jubilee year.
“A demanding intervention,” said Gualtieri, “carried out in a short time that gives us wonders and anticipates the restoration of the facades of the square.
“Now the Dioscuri will be able to welcome those who climb the cordonata (the steps up from the street near Piazza Venezia) in the best way”.
The huge statues have a fascinating history, starting from their dating, believed to be back to the middle of the 2nd century, at the beginning of the Antonine age, and they can be linked to the double succession of Hadrian and Lucius Verus to their adoptive father Antoninus Pius.
They were found between 1561 and 1565 in the area of ;;the Circo Flaminio (today between the Theatre of Marcellus and via Arenula, not far from the Campidoglio) where the ‘Temple of Castores’ stood and were already the subject of a twenty-year restoration that involved numerous sculptors.
This is also evidenced, among other things, by the materials: mostly they are precious Pentelic marble, the rest Carrara marble.
This, the superintendent explained, made the restoration work of the two colossi even more complex, exposed as they are to smog and bad weather.
The last cleaning dates back to 2006.
The intervention concluded Friday cost 270 thousand euros, and is part of the Caput Mundi program, that is, the ‘jubilee’ tranche of Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).
Rome has another two iconic statues of the Dioscuri, in concrete, outside the Quirinale presidential palace, where they have stood since it was the home of popes in the Renaissance.
They are even bigger than the colossi on the Campidoglio.
(ANSA).
Read article…
Saluting the return of the sons of Jupiter and Leda, Capitoline superintendent Claudio Parisi Presicce said “one is mortal and the other human, who exchanged their nature every six months and are therefore the symbol of fraternal harmony.
“And this Hill is the symbol of welcome”.
Rome Mayor Robero Gualtieri said this message was “fully in line with the Jubilee year.
“A demanding intervention,” said Gualtieri, “carried out in a short time that gives us wonders and anticipates the restoration of the facades of the square.
“Now the Dioscuri will be able to welcome those who climb the cordonata (the steps up from the street near Piazza Venezia) in the best way”.
The huge statues have a fascinating history, starting from their dating, believed to be back to the middle of the 2nd century, at the beginning of the Antonine age, and they can be linked to the double succession of Hadrian and Lucius Verus to their adoptive father Antoninus Pius.
They were found between 1561 and 1565 in the area of ;;the Circo Flaminio (today between the Theatre of Marcellus and via Arenula, not far from the Campidoglio) where the ‘Temple of Castores’ stood and were already the subject of a twenty-year restoration that involved numerous sculptors.
This is also evidenced, among other things, by the materials: mostly they are precious Pentelic marble, the rest Carrara marble.
This, the superintendent explained, made the restoration work of the two colossi even more complex, exposed as they are to smog and bad weather.
The last cleaning dates back to 2006.
The intervention concluded Friday cost 270 thousand euros, and is part of the Caput Mundi program, that is, the ‘jubilee’ tranche of Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).
Rome has another two iconic statues of the Dioscuri, in concrete, outside the Quirinale presidential palace, where they have stood since it was the home of popes in the Renaissance.
They are even bigger than the colossi on the Campidoglio.
(ANSA).
Read article…
