DAY 11: City out of pieces

12.07.2014

Near the house of Cola di Rienzo, on the other side of the invisible line drawn during Mussolini to mark the area of medieval Rome to be demolished, stands in its grotesque glory Church San Nicola di Carcere. 

Untouched in the recent history, this church is constructed by hacking the earlier structures and it is one of the most sticking examples of how Roman holy spaces from the 2^nd century BC Republican era continued its life in later Christianity. The church is built between the remains of three Roman temples which at the time stood one next to another in what was then Forum Holitorium. Elements of each one of the temples have survived until today through visible incorporation of their structure into the church building. Seven columns of the Temple of Janus can be seen with their architrave in the north wall of the church. Another seven columns of the side Temple of Spes can be seen on the south church wall. The remains of the middle temple are visible in both front and back facades of the structure. San Nicola di Carcere is one of those incredible buildings that are laughing in everyone’s face, when in modernity we filled up museums with every piece of history that doesn’t have foundations instead of building those pieces into our lives and cities.