Trajan Column and the Markets

The Forum of Trajan was built between 107 and 112 A.D. The following year the celebrated column was unveiled, built of 18 blocks of marble stacked one on top of another and sculpted with scenes of the victories of the Emperor in Dacia (modern day Romania). At its summit originally was the statue of Trajan, which was probably destroyed in the Middle Ages. In 1587, Sixtus V had a statue of Saint Peter placed on top. Outside the Forum, from which can also be seen the ruins of the Ulpia Basilica, in the direction of the the Quirinale, were the trajan markets, state warehouses and centers of distribution and sales of food and other goods.