With a knee, a bicep and an imposing marble head, among other ancient fragments, the colossal statue of Constantine, the
first emperor to convert to Christianity
in the 4th century, was reconstructed in Rome.
Starting this Tuesday, the work can be seen for the first time in a garden at
Villa Caffarelli
, at the top of Capitol Hill.
The reproduction of the statue,
13 meters
high, represents Constantine covered with a
bronze
garment , as occurred in the works erected in ancient Rome to represent gods and emperors.
The work was carried out with
3 D printers
by Factum Foundation for Digital Technology, a non-profit entity based in Madrid.
This statue is
the largest of which remains have been found in Rome
, said Claudio Parisi Presicce, curator in charge of the monuments of the Italian capital, and was placed in the garden at the top of the
Capitol
Hill , from where it can be seen. the
Roman forum
.
Original remains.
From the Colossus of Constantine, in the Capitoline Museums in Rome.
EFE/ Miguel Salvatierra
"The impression one has of this statue of the emperor is a reflection of
the feeling of his subjects
in front of an imperial image," experts noted.
Even so, this work was not the largest in Rome, since the record is held by the colossus that represented Emperor
Nero, 30 meters
high and erected near the place where the Colosseum is currently located.
The reconstruction, by parts
For hundreds of years, archaeologists, historians and tourists had to use their
imagination
to get an idea of what the complete statue looked like, from
marble fragments still on display in the Capitol museums.
The creators of the replica traveled 2 years ago to the Capitoline Museums to
scan "at submillimeter levels",
with a high-resolution technique called
photogrammetry,
the preserved remains of the piece.
The statue was reconstructed in
resin
from a dozen marble fragments preserved in the Capitol
: 2 hands and 2 feet, 1 knee and a calf, 2 fragments of biceps with apparent veins, a piece of torso, without forgetting, of course , the huge head.
"By studying each of the fragments we understood that the
stone and marble preserve the traces of the assembly of the original sculpture
," said Claudio Parisi Presicce, the superintendent of Cultural Assets of the City Council of Rome.
Thanks to studies, it was learned that some parts of Constantine, who established Christianity as the religion of the Empire and created the capital of Constantinople, modern-day Istanbul, may have been part of an older statue.
Some details on the chin suggest that the
original statue had a beard.
The resulting monument will remain atop Capitol Hill at least
until 2025
, the jubilee year in which millions of Catholic pilgrims are expected to arrive in Rome.
It has not yet been decided where the mega work will be moved later.
J.S.