The Ara Pacis was built in the late 1st century BC to celebrate the Pax Romana, the age of peace and stability ushered in by the reign of the emperor Augustus after decades of civil war. From an art historical standpoint, the Ara Pacis is famous for the detailed reliefs that adorn it’s different sides depicting Augustan themes of dynasty, piety, and empire. Although, today we associate classical art & architecture with pristine, white marble, it is a mistake to think that this is what these objects looked like in antiquity. In reality, the Ara Pacis, like other ancient Roman monuments, was originally painted, only losing its pigments over the centuries. It is often difficult to imagine the effect that these polychromatic images must have had and to have seen these monuments as the ancient Romans did, but the new exhibit at the museum of the Ara Pacis makes use of augmented reality to do such that. Using special headgear, visitors can see what the reliefs on the Ara Pacis might have looked like with color and lets us come one step closer to experiencing the monument as Augustus originally intended.
