A Tourist in Rome - Museum of Imperial Fora
| Location:: | 41.89615, 12.48600 Via IV Novembre 94, on the left side of Trajan's Market as you look at it from Via dei Fori Imperiali |
| Metro:: | Colosseo |
| Time:: | about 90 minutes |
| Cost:: | €9.50 |
| Hours:: | Tuesday - Sunday 9 AM - 7 PM, closed Monday |
| Audio Guide:: | Mediocre |
| Photos:: | Permitted |
The Museum of Imperial Fora is a superb museum dedicated to displaying the remains found in the Imperial Fora, as well as letting you walk inside Trajan's Market, which in itself is worth the price of admission. There is a mediocre audio guide available; I found it worth its additional cost, just not among the best audioguides I rented in Rome. The entrance to the museum is located at the left side of Trajan's Market (as you look at it from Via dei Fori Imperiali) at Via IV Novembre 94. One way to get to the entrance is to slip through the first passage available on the left side of Trajan's Market, just before the church, right across from Trajan's Column. The entrance is then on the right, through the iron gates, about 1/2 way to the tall tower (Torre de Milizie).
You can extensively tour the museum online using this Google Maps Street View.
When you enter the museum, you are entering the Great Hall of Trajan's Market, which was a two-story shopping area on two sides of a central atrium (1st photo below). Free wheat was once distributed to the people of Rome here. Today, the shops in the great hall serve as an introduction to each of the Imperial Fora. Artifacts from each of the fora are on display here and throughout the museum. At the end of this hall on the upper level, a large balcony gives an impressive view of the market and Trajan's Forum below (2nd photo below), and the Victor Emmanuel Monument across Via dei Fori Imperiali. Further into the museum, you can actually walk out onto the Via Biberatica, a road that existed on the third level, on top of the arch (3rd photo below). Lining this street were some of the shops in the market.
Once you're outside, you can walk around and view the Torre de Milizie (1st photo below) and more rows of markets (2nd photo below) that were part of Trajan's Market. Then, back inside, there are many more artifacts from the Imperial Fora to see.
Below are artifacts from Caesar's Forum on display in the Museum of Imperial Fora:
Below are artifacts from the Forum of Augustus on display in the Museum of Imperial Fora:
Below is an artifact from the Temple of Peace on display in the Museum of Imperial Fora:
Below is an artifact from the Forum of Nerva on display in the Museum of Imperial Fora:
Below is an artifact from the Trajan's Forum on display in the Museum of Imperial Fora:
