VICTORIAN AND ARACOELI, History
- Audio File length: 2.53
- Author: STEFANO ZUFFI E DAVIDE TORTORELLA
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Language: English / USA
Hi, I'm Ed, your personal guide. Together with MyWoWo, I'd like to welcome you to one of the wonders of the world.
Today I'll accompany you through the Vittoriano, which is the National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II, and one of the most criticized places in Rome!
The colossal monument in front of you dedicated to Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy, the first king of united Italy, particularly stands out in the heart of Rome for its marble from the quarries of Brescia, whose candor is quite different from the gray travertine usually used for the city's monuments. Even today, every once in a while someone proposes to demolish it, but by now it has definitely become part of the capital's panorama.
Even though it was built by Umberto I to commemorate his father Victor Emmanuel, the Vittoriano is not the king's tomb, which is actually in the Pantheon. It is also called the "Altar of the Fatherland", and has a strong symbolic value as the location for solemn national ceremonies. Work on it began in 1885, but its construction and above all its redundant decoration required decades of work....