Temple of Minerva Medica

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'Temple of Minerva Medica' in Rome in Via Giolitti

The so-called Temple of Minerva Medica is a building of ancient Rome , located between Via Labicana and the Aurelian Wall , exactly in the line of Anio Vetus . Today the ruin is on Via Giolitti. The building was a nymphaeum that may have belonged to the Horti Liciniani , the gardens of the Licinians .

The nymphaeum, built in the late 3rd or early 4th century from opus latericium , whose once well-preserved dome collapsed only in 1828, was subsequently surrounded by additions of unknown time and is not known from written sources. The decagonal central building has a diameter of around 24 meters and is around 33 meters high. Its interior walls are divided by nine niches in the lower wall area to the left and right of the door. There are ten arched window openings above this and above the entrance. Both the inner and outer shell of the walls were originally covered with marble. The inside of the dome was covered with mosaics , the floor decorated with strips of porphyry and mosaics.

The building was named the Temple of Minerva Medica because it was mistakenly believed that Athena Giustiniani was found here.

In terms of its construction, the building represents a link in the development of the central building on the way from the dining room of the Domus Aurea via the Pantheon to the Byzantine church buildings.

Later on, a monumental entrance with butting, permeable apses was placed in front of the building. In the axial direction, very large, inward-facing, apsidal spaces of unknown function were added to the side areas. They each took up the space of two of the niches originally projecting outwards.

Technical specifications

  • Built: late 3rd or 4th century
  • Inner dome diameter (ø): 23.65 m
  • Dome shell thickness (KSD): 0.56 m
  • KSD to ø: 1:42
  • Dome material: concrete with brick ribs
  • Floor plan: decagon
  • Circular wall thickness (RD): 2.60 m
  • RD to ø: 1: 9.1

See also

literature

  • Jürgen Rasch: The dome in Roman architecture. Development, Shaping, Construction , in: Architectura , Vol. 15 (1985), pp. 117-139
  • Lawrence Richardson Jr .: A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1992, pp. 269-270 (Nymphaeum) .

Web links

Commons : Temple of Minerva Medica  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Jürgen Rasch: The dome in Roman architecture. Development, Shaping, Construction , in: Architectura , Vol. 15 (1985), pp. 117-139

Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 38.1 ″  N , 12 ° 30 ′ 42.8 ″  E