This magnificent monument of monumental architecture from the reign of Emperor Trajan was created by his architect Apollodorus of Damascus. The forum was erected in 106-113 A.D. on state subsidies raised by the victorious war with the Dacians, which had ended a few years earlier. The dimensions of the forum are grandiose: 300 metres long and 185 metres wide. To build Trajan's Forum it was necessary to cut off the top of the Quirinal Hill and Apollodorus of Damascus brilliantly managed this task.
The dedication of Trajan's Column took place in 113 AD; its total height reaches almost 40 metres. At its summit was a statue of Trajan, now lost. In 1587, Pope Sixtus V ordered it to be replaced by a statue of St Peter. The Column serves as a tomb monument to Trajan: a door opening at the base of the Column leads to a hall where an urn containing the emperor's ashes is placed. The trunk of the Column wraps around a spiral of uninterrupted frieze, 200 metres long and about 1 metre high, which documents Trajan's two victorious battles against the Dacians in 101-102 and 105-106 AD.
Trajan's Market is a huge brick semicircle. The lower storey opens out into stalls; the stalls of the upper storey abut the rock at the point where the cut of the hill was made. The third tier of the ensemble includes a road that rises steeply to the top. Many more shops, offices, portable stalls and a basilica completed this architectural ensemble of six storeys.
