Trajan's Market
A six-level complex cut into the hillside, its vaults and stairs still intact after nineteen centuries.
Sjaak Kempe from Groningen, The Netherlands โ CC BY 2.0 ยท Sjaak Kempe from Groningen, The Netherlands โ CC BY 2.0 ยท Sjaak Kempe from Groningen, The Netherlands โ CC BY 2.0 ยท Sjaak Kempe from Groningen, The Netherlands โ CC BY 2.0
On a two-day trip, the free street-level view is enough. With three days or more, Trajan's Market earns ninety minutes โ and it is far quieter.
The label is common but inaccurate. Scholars think it was more likely state administrative offices and distribution stores than shops โ the commercial name came from the look of the ranked rooms.
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Five fora built by successive emperors north of the old Roman Forum once the city had outgrown it: the fora of Caesar, of Augustus, the Temple of Peace, the Forum of Nerva and the Forum of Trajan. Each was a political statement in stone by a new emperor. The main thing to visit today is Trajan's Market: a six-level complex of around a hundred and fifty rooms cut into the flank of the Quirinal โ sometimes called history's first shopping mall, though it was more likely administrative offices and distribution halls. The building itself is an engineering marvel: vaults, corridors and stairs still standing after nineteen centuries. Inside the market is the Museum of the Imperial Fora on the same ticket, holding original decorative fragments from each forum alongside models showing how they looked. The avenue cutting through them was driven by Mussolini in 1932 over ground that was never excavated โ which is why the fora sit severed from one another today.
A six-level complex cut into the hillside, its vaults and stairs still intact after nineteen centuries.
Original decoration and architectural models showing each forum before ruin โ it makes the rest of the walk legible.
A view down over all five fora and Trajan's Column โ the best angle for understanding the layout.
Via dei Fori Imperiali, Rome
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