From its origins, the Trajan Column has been a challenge to human ingenuity: the extraction of marble from the quarries of Carrara, its transportation, and finally its fabrication and installation at the site of Trajan's Forum represented the stages of a daring undertaking that still arouses awe and wonder today. How was it possible with the means of the 2nd century AD to create a work of art and engineering technology of such proportions?

From today, Friday, Dec. 22, until next April 30, an exhibition reconstructs this extraordinary adventure inside the Colosseum, illuminated for the occasion in blue, the color of the Danube, in homage to the facts narrated by the monument, namely Trajan's conquests in Dacia (present-day Romania) at the height of the Empire's expansion.

Inaugurated 1910 years ago, on May 12, 113 AD, the Trajan Column is considered one of the most significant monuments of imperial Rome: along a spiral frieze of about 300 meters carved in Carrara marble, 155 scenes and 2570 figures retrace in detail the two military campaigns of the Optimus Princeps in Dacia (101-106 AD). At the Forum construction site, the structure was also hollowed out from the inside like a giant Archimedes screw to make a stunning spiral staircase.

A work of engineering of unprecedented complexity, testifying to the very high heights reached by Roman civilization in the art of building. The exhibition recounts the toil and ingenuity of men who extracted tons of marble and then tackled with wooden sleds the nearly 700-meter drop to reach the plain and the port of Luni, where huge ships were ready to reach Ostia and Rome. It is difficult today to imagine the organization of such a complex construction site and the mechanical precision required to compose the monument.

The echo of this extraordinary undertaking has traveled through the centuries without ever fading: the monument was idolized by popes and sovereigns of Europe who, unable to move it, commissioned drawings of it (Francis I of France), replicas (Napoleon), casts (Louis XIV and Napoleon III) and even new consecrations (Pope Sixtus V).

In a precious Flemish tapestry, the ingenious Apollodorus of Damascus illustrates the bold design to Trajan against the backdrop of the Apuan Alps. Trajan's Column. The tale of a symbol begins precisely with the effigies of the emperor and the architect, represented by casts of precious marble busts. But it is Apollodorus who guides us through the three sections of the exhibition, among 60 works on loan from museums, institutions and private collections throughout Italy.

History, art and technique are interwoven along the tour itinerary, which features archaeological finds, drawings, ancient tools, photographs taken during the restoration campaign that is still in progress, as well as multimedia content and models of large construction machines from the Roman period, reconstructed by Claudio Capotondi. Finally, an immersive chamber transports the public to the landscapes of 2nd-century Dacia: the frieze stretches before the eyes in life size, with unprecedented detail and visual quality.