Rome, Arch of Janus reopens. But only for four hours a week. And opening it will be Fendi

In Rome, theArch of Janus, an important Latin monument that, according to the most recent studies, was built by Emperor Constantine’s sons in his honor after his death in 337, has reopened after 28 years. The Arch of Janus area reopened Nov. 13 following a collaboration between the Special Superintendence of Rome and the Alda Fendi Foundation-Experiments. However, the monument will be open to visitors only four hours a week: on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (in daylight saving time months from 4 to 8 p.m.). The opening will be free of charge.

Despite the very tight schedule, the Superintendence finds ways to celebrate. “It is with joy that we open for free the Arch of Janus, a monument beloved by Romans and that strikes a chord with visitors from all over the world,” said Rome Special Superintendent Daniela Porro. “We are doing this with the Alda Fendi Foundation-Experiments, which is also offering the NUSHU performance, a virtuous collaboration after those with Enpam for the Nymphaeum Museum, with the Senate and the State Archives of Rome for the Palazzo della Sapienza, and with the Fondo Edifici di Culto and the Vicariate, for the Cornaro Chapel. Collaborations that are the sign of an open and constructive Superintendence.” The performance Porro refers to was held on Nov. 5: NU-SHU dealt with the themes of women’s conquest of speech and self-determination. Enthusiasm also came from the monument’s manager, Mirella Serlorenzi: “We are finally reopening the Arch of Janus to the citizenship and not only with guided tours, with the hope that in the future we can do even more. In recent years the monument has undergone partial restoration, studies and research that have revealed some previously unknown aspects and that will allow us to complete its recovery.”

“My Foundation,” said Alda Fendi, “is happy to open to the public the prestigious area of the Arch of Janus and to encourage the enjoyment of an important monument. For 20 years I have explored the world of the Imperial Forums leaving artistic and spectacular testimonies. I thank Special Superintendent Daniela Porro for her foresight.” We asked in an email to the Superintendency what it means that the Fendi Foundation will be the one to open a state archaeological area to the public (according to Alda Fendi’s statements) and what are the terms of the collaboration between the Superintendency and the Foundation, but no answer came from the Superintendency. Nor is it known why it will open for just four hours a week.

Yet the monument is one of the most important vestiges of imperial Rome. The only honorary arch with a quadrangular plan in the center of the city, named after the two-faced god precisely because of its shape (the name is owed to 16th-century scholars, who interpreted the four entrances as the mirroring of the two faces of the god Janus), the Arch of Janus, after the Mafia attack at San Giorgio al Velabro on July 28, 1993 (the date from which it has not reopened), was first closed for restoration (it involved the portion of the facade facing Piazza della Verità and was completed in 2017) and then surrounded by a protective gate, and in recent years has been accessible only by guided tours or for rare events. The building, as mentioned above, was built after Constantine’s death, and is listed in the Regional Catalogues (the register of buildings in Rome compiled in the fourth century AD) as “Arcus Divi Constantini.” Unlike all other honorary arches built in Rome, that of Janus is distinguished by its peculiar quadrangular plan (12 x 16 meters), with four supporting pillars covered by a cross vault on which rested a high attic. The unusual shape is probably due to another four-sided arch, built by Constantine himself at Malborghetto on the Via Flaminia to celebrate his victory at the Battle of Ponte Milvio. It is thelast monumental building erected in antiquity at the Forum Boarium, in a location that is in many ways symbolic, at the crossroads of the ancient Salaria and the road that led from the very ancient emporium located on the banks of the Tiber, and from which the very first nucleus of the Urbs originated, toward the Magna Mater, the only portion of the Palatine that the emperors left for public use by not incorporating it into the imperial palace.

The Arch of Janus, built of brick and covered with marble, is also distinguished by the fact that it still retains the original decorative scheme: the pillars are decorated by two rows of three semicircular niches covered by a shell-shaped semi-dome, in which statues (48 in total) were placed. The four keystones of the arch are decorated with representations of Rome and Juno (seated), Minerva, and possibly Ceres (standing). Like the Arch of Constantine, the Arch of Janus was made with materials from the systematic destruction of buildings that, in the early fourth century CE, were in disuse. These materials, disassembled and reworked for new installation, still show the remains of some original decorative elements that allow recognition of their former function. And like many other buildings of imperial Rome, the Arch of Janus owes its survival to a later reuse with a different function: in the Middle Ages it was in fact transformed into a fortification by the Frangipane, the same family that had turned the Colosseum into a fortress, and its tower appears mentioned in a document dating back to 1145 and was still visible until the 18th century. Partially buried over the centuries, the building came fully back to light in 1827: during this intervention for the purpose of removing later-period additions, the attic was also removed, of which only the brick core remained, and for this reason considered medieval, but originally covered with marble, as was the rest of the arch.

Image: the Arch of Janus. Photo Institute for the Study of the Ancient World

Rome, Arch of Janus reopens. But only for four hours a week. And opening it will be Fendi

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