Expanding the archaeological area of the Forum of Caesar, recovering other remains of the Temple of Venus Genetrix to rebuild it in the future.
With this main objective, the archaeological excavation operations began today on the eastern side of the Forum of Caesar.
The investigations of the first lot (the one aimed at finding the finds of the eastern portico of the square) are expected to be completed as early as August this year.
On the spot for the occasion also the mayor Virginia Raggi.
The works are conducted by the Capitoline Superintendence in collaboration with the Academy of Denmark, which donated 1,500,000 euros thanks to the Carlsberg Foundation in Copenhagen and the Aarhus University Research Foundation.
Like the first phase of the investigations, presented on 26 October 2017 on the occasion of the visit to Rome of Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark Margrethe II, this second phase is also part of the agreements signed in that same year.
"Rome reserves us continuous surprises: the start of the excavations of the Forum of Caesar allows us to bring to light different phases of life of this ancient urban sector which has a very rich stratification, as emerged from the investigations conducted by the Superintendency in recent decades.
I thank Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark Margrethe II and the Academy of Denmark for this important act of patronage.
With the support of all, we continue to discover our history ", says Raggi.
The excavation operations were preceded by a research program aimed at getting to know the various life stages of the monumental complex, through archive investigations, together with the cataloging and to the study of the finds, in particular ceramics, found in the excavations of 1998-2000.
In the winter of 2019 a preliminary cleaning of the area was carried out, thanks to which the remains of wall structures relevant to the ground floors of the modern buildings (16th-20th century) demolished in the 1930s for the opening of via dei Fori Imperiali. "The resumption of excavations at the Forum of Caesar is a new stage in the path of knowledge and enhancement of one of the archaeological areas most important in the world, open to the public permanently since 2019.
Thanks to the Academy of Denmark for this important economic and scientific contribution ", explains the Capitoline superintendent Maria Vittoria Marini Clarelli.
The director of the Danimaca Academy in Rome, Charlotte Bundgaard, and the scientific director of the project on behalf of the same academy are also satisfied
.
Jan Kindberg Jacobsen: "We are very pleased with the start of the works.
We will contribute to the research with great enthusiasm ". According to the director of the Archaeological Park of the Colosseum Alfonsina Russo" the excavation of the Forum of Caesar constitutes a new important opportunity to expand the knowledge of the forensic area in its entirety ".
