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The
Hotel Forum Rome - Luxury Quality Accomodation
Rome Italy
The
centre of the Piazza Navona is dominated by
the Fountain of the Rivers – Bernini which
was completed in 1651 and is one of the finest
examples of Baroque architecture in Rome. The
4 rivers represent the 4 corners of Christianity
and the 4 corners of the known civilised world
which are The Danube (Europe), The Ganges (Asia),
The Nile (Africa) and The Plate (Americas).
The obelisk that is in the centre of the fountain
was brought to Rome from Egypt by Emperor Maxentius
in the early 300s and was formerly housed at
his circus, the Circus Maxentius, it disappeared
for about 1300 years and then showed up on the
Via Appia Antica... It was brought to Piazza
Navona in the 1600s to decorate this fountain.
Under the Obelisk is a huge empty grotto which
is a much studied architectural wonder in Rome.
The animals and plants which represent the four
rivers look a little bit weird, believe it or
not the animal for Africa is supposedly a crocodile!
The reason for this is that Bernini had never
seen any of these animals so he would have sculpted
from information and bad sketches drawn from
other people.
Did
You Know? Borromini, the architect
of the Church of Saint Agnes in Agony, was a
manic depressive and eventually took his own
life...
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