April 10, 2008 -- The Trajan Column, one of Rome's most famous monuments, will be shown next year under a totally new light. Italian researchers announced they plan to restore the column's original bright colors by "painting" it with light beams.
Erected in 113 A.D. in honor of the Emperor Trajan (53-117 A.D.), the huge marble column stands almost 100 feet in height. It is decorated with a spiral relief sculpture, winding 23 times around and depicting the story of Trajan's triumphant campaigns in Dacia, now part of Romania.
One of the best preserved of all Roman artworks, the monument has however lost what might have been it most distinctive feature -- color.
"The column, like many other statues of antiquity, was a carnival of color. The knights, the shields, the horses, the rivers, the sky were all painted," Maurizio Anastasi, head of the technical office of Rome Superintendency for Archaeology told Discovery News.
Anastasi plans to return the column to its full polychrome glory using an innovative, fully reversible technology. The plan was announced at an international meeting on art restoration in Ferrara, Italy last week.
"Basically, we will be painting the column with light beams. People will be able to see the monument as it appeared to the ancient Roman world for a few minutes every hour at night. Then the column will return to its present white marble state," Anastasi said.
The project, which is scheduled for 2009, is part of a wider scheme to light up the entire Roman Forum.
"We are going to use a dynamic concept of lighting. Light will be turned on at different times to produce a more readable and evocative view of the entire area," said Corrado Terzi, a professor of industrial design at Rome's La Sapienza University.
To paint the Trajan Column, Anastasi's team will employ computer-controlled light projectors and high-definition films.
"We have tested the technology on a bas-relief copy of the column at the restoration fair in Ferrara. Visitors first thought it was a photograph. As they got closer, they perceived the relief, the shadows, and the unusual paint for the battle scenes.
"Light painted the column like a child would paint his drawings," Anastasi said.
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