Ceremonial Front
original west front
Facade
Back, Front, East, West? This facade is usually described as the "front" because it has been seen and understood as such by the public since the Ara Pacis was first installed in its 1937-38 pavilion. However, here as elsewhere, scholars have proposed different identifications and meanings for aspects of the Ara Pacis.
Many scholars do describe this facade as the "front". However, other scholars have argued, quite persuasively, that the opposite facade was the public front, because it faced the Via Flaminia, the main public avenue on which the Ara Pacis fronted. To make this point, a few scholars have even called the facade shown on this page "the back". However, I consider this term inappropriate for any aspect of the enclosing precinct wall, one of whose formal characteristics is pervasive balance, side-to-side and end-to-end. It is best that we think of and describe the Ara Pacis as having as two opposite fronts.
This facade is also sometimes referred to as the "west". However, I prefer not to rely on this term alone because it is not intuitively obvious to most people and can even be misleading, because what is sometimes called the "west", its approximate original orientation, faces south as seen today. The doorway of this facade opens directly to the steps of the sacrifical altar. I prefer to describe this as the "Ceremonial Front". Occasionally I use the term "original west front" or even for brevity "west front" (but never "west" alone).
Originally Painted? As with so many ancient monuments, the original surface of the Ara Pacis was not lightly toned marble but instead brightly colored paint. Without this essential aspect of the imagery, interpretations of meaning are necessarily incomplete and in part speculative. In recent years, increasing attempts have been made to suggest the original appearance of various ancient monuments, not only of Greece and Rome but also of India, China, and Pre-Columbian America. The recently proposed reconstructions of the Ara Pacis colors are now impressively demonstrated with color projection directly on the front facades. Based largely on parallels with Roman wall paintings, they are especially to be applauded because they suggest the partly naturalistic appearance of the originals, instead of the flat, cartoon-like treatment of many color reconstructions.
TO ZOOM IN ON THE LARGE IMAGES, USE THE BUTTONS AT TOP-LEFT.
Tips for using this website
No remnants have survived of the entablature running around the top of the entire precinct wall. It is entirely a hypothetical reconstruction. The few 1st century CE coins that seem to represent the Ara Pacis, suggest that the current entabulature is much too neoclassical and would originally have been larger and more ornate. photo Oct. 2008
|
The elaborate, complex imagery of the altar is organized in pervasive symmetry. Almost every surface was embellished. photo July-Oct. 2008
|
The skylights and expansive side windows of the new Museum dell'Ara Pacis make it possible to see the altar more clearly than in its previous 1937-38 housing, indeed more clearly that at any time since the 2nd century CE, when the lower portion was already covered by the rising ground in the Tiber flood plain. photo Oct. 2008
|
Demonstration of an innovative, technically complex color projection to suggest the original colors of the front facades. photo May 2010
|
Demonstration of an innovative, technically complex color projection to suggest the original colors of the front facades. photo May 2010 |
Demonstration of an innovative, technically complex color projection to suggest the original colors of the front facades. photo May 2010
|
Only small fragments of the original marble have survived from the figural and vegetal relief panels at the left of this facade. photo May 2010 |
The new museum building provides improved lighting but also occasional stripes. The Ara Pacis was originally seen out-of-doors, under natural conditions. In this view through the doorway, we must imagine the sacramental altar partially covered with reliefs and perhaps priests at the altar. photo July-Oct. 2008 |
Unlike the 2 relief panels on the left of the doorway, these two reliefs are unusually well preserved, as is the pilaster at left in this photo. photo May 2010 |
Demonstration of an innovative, technically complex color projection to suggest the original colors of the front facades. photo May 2010 |
"Plate 1 - West front of the monument", print by " Leporini, Roma". Scanned from Giuseppe Moretti, L'Ara Pacis Augustae; Rome, 2005 (ist ed. 1948), vol.2, pl.1. Courtesy of the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Rome. Reproduced with appreciation.
|
Demonstration of an innovative, technically complex color projection to suggest the original colors of the front facades. photo May 2010 |
