Architecture of Rome

Rome's architecture over the centuries has greatly developed, especially from the Classical and Imperial Roman styles to modern Fascist architecture. Rome was once the world's main epicentres of classical architecture, developing new forms such as the arch, the dome and the vault. The Romanesque style in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries was also widely used in Roman architecture, and later the city became one of the main centres of Renaissance and Baroque architecture. Rome's cityscape is also widely Neoclassical and Fascist in style.

During the Roman Republic, most Roman buildings were made of concrete and bricks, but ever since about 100 BC and the Roman Empire, marble and gold were more widely used as decoration themes in the architecture of Rome, especially in temples, palaces, fora and public buildings in general. Most buildings, just like in Classical Athens, had caryatids and atlantises supporting balconies or structures, mainly representing standing women or muscular men. The caryatids found in ancient Roman architecture were mainly copies of the Greek ones, just like in the Forum of Augustus. Temples in ancient Roman architecture were usually raised with an elongated staircase, and were usually built on a podium or a dais. They usually had a portico and a triangle-roofed porch with columns. Romans mainly copied their orders from the Corinthian orders, the Doric orders and the Ionic orders, but created a new Composite order which was used in the Arch of Titus. Domes, vaults, Aedicules (small shrines designed as small temples) and coffers were also popular elements of Classical and Imperial Roman architecture. The Colosseum is the most prominent element of ancient Roman architecture, but also the Roman Forum, the Domus Aurea, the Pantheon, Trajan's Column, Trajan's Market, the Catacombs, the Circus Maximus, the Baths of Caracalla, Castel Sant'Angelo, the Mausoleum of Augustus, the Ara Pacis, the Arch of Constantine, the Pyramid of Cestius, and the Bocca della Verità are renowned ancient monuments.

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