The complex today
In the ten years after the Second World War the Markets of Trajan were left abandoned whilst the urban and environmental situation around it changed. Via dei Fori Imperiale and Via Quarto Novembre became principle axis for the flow of traffic, consequently causing a progressive increase in atmospheric and noise pollution and thus reducing the archaeological site to the mercies of fast moving traffic.
Fortunately, the sensitivity of certain municipal administrations and a reawakening of the debate on the city’s artistic patrimony resulted in funds being made available for the monument from the middle of the 1980’s. The works that resulted were directed at taking on the restorations required and recovering the functionality of the complex with the ultimate aim of housing the Museum of the Imperial Forums on site. A museum dedicated to the architecture of the Forums and their sculptural decorations.
The projects finality is to maintain the highest possible profile for the monuments of the Roman Forums but at the same time offer a real vision of their proportions and constructional complexity through reconstructed architectural fragments and multimedia displays.
