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Antoninus & Faustina

The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina is an ancient Roman temple in Rome, adapted to the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda. It stands in the Forum Romanum.

The temple was begun in 141 by the Emperor Antoninus Pius and was intitially dedicated to his deceased and deified wife, Faustina the Elder. When Antoninus Pius was deified after his death in 161, the temple was re-dedicated jointly to Antoninus and Faustina at the instigation of his successor, Marcus Aurelius.

 

The building stands on a high platform of large peperino blocks. The later of two dedicatory inscriptions says, "Divo Antonino et Divae Faustinae Ex S.C." meaning, “To the divine Antoninus and to the divine Faustina by decree of the Senate.”

 

The ten monolithic Corinthian columns of its pronaos are 17 m. tall. The rich bas-reliefs of the frieze under the cornice, of garlanded griffons and candelabri, were often copied from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries.

The temple was converted to a Roman Catholic church, known as San Lorenzo in Miranda, perhaps as early as the seventh century. "Miranda" may derive from the name of a benefactress.

 

(taken from Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia).

 

Dear friends, my holidays start tomorrow, I will concentrate mainly on photography and sunbathing!

 

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Uploaded on July 30, 2010
Taken on May 30, 2010