Altare della Patria

Walking Up the Altare della Patria in Rome

Walking Up the Altare della Patria in Rome

We were in the vicinity of the Piazza Venezia and we just finished our rather lackluster lunch. We were here to explore the area and probably one structure here stands out among the rest. There is a Roman inspired structure here which seems to be a quite out of place with the places which we have visited. For one thing this one seems to be a bit too tall. The tallest ancient Roman structure which I have seen would probably be the Colosseum itself. Most of the other structures like the Pantheon and even the Castel San’tAngelo were all not very tall. This structure is the Altare della Patria, from the name you can tell that this is an Altar to the Fatherland, and it is a relatively modern structure. The structure can be best described as an Roman architecture student gone wild.

Massive Altare della Patria in Rome

Massive Altare della Patria in Rome

The Altar della Patria incorporates a lot of the Roman architectural designs which we have seen and incorporates them into a structure which isn’t exactly very appealing to me. It was as if different people we designing different parts at the same time. The platform of the altar reminds me of the Spanish steps while the central part it a large monolithic platform for the upper structure. The top structure seems to be like a government buildings placed on top of everything else. After all I have seen in ancient Rome, I think I can safely say that this was one of the most outlandish structures I have seen in this beautiful city.

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