The ambitious plan to rebuild the more than two-thousand-year-old monument at the Roman Forum has been the subject of heated debate among experts.
Archaeologists and art experts are angry at using cement to support the seven columns of the Temple of Peace, a structure built in 75 CE at the behest of Emperor Vespasian. Architect Sandro Maccallini stated that such restoration would result in “an entirely artificial column, with an artificial base, artificial shaft and artificial capital”. The cultural branch of the city council of Rome is looking for a way to restore the splendour of the columns that were once made of the highly regarded pink granite that was shipped from the Egyptian city of Aswan.
Maccialini is against the false recreation of monuments, claiming that in this way places such as the Roman Forum lose their uniqueness and value as an authentic ones. In response, Claudio Parisi Presicce, head of the cultural department of the city council in Rome, states that the aim of the project was to bring back to life Roman artefacts that are in fragments.
