THE ROLE OF RUINS
Roman Grandeur

Drawings:

1. Arch of Janus, Rome (May, 2002)
2. Arch of Septimius Severus, Rome (5/8/03)
3. Baths of Caracalla, Rome (February, 2002)
4. Forum Boarium, Rome (21/7/03)
5. Porticus of Octavia, Rome (13/5/04)
6. Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, Rome (June, 2002)
7. Temple of Portunus, Rome (June, 2002)

Rome, of course, is the model for all ages, and a palimpsest of architectural language, urban design, and cultural memory. From its legendary origins through the many transformations it received over time, Rome, according to David Mayernik, “evoked and even became the mythical home of the muses”. Even during the darkest days of sack and pillage, she remained eternal. The famous passage “Roma quanta fuit ipsa ruina docet”, from Francesco Albertini’s Opusculum (1510), an updated version of the Mirabilia Urbis Romae (the twelfth century medieval guidebook to Rome), suggests that however great she once was, the ruins themselves reveal.