Download ebook FREE - Allemandi

Fig. 7.
Sacred area with the
reconstruction of the
podium of the main
temple.
Fig. 8.
Tabernae located to the
west of the forum.
was previously totally incomprehensible to visitors due to its poor
condition. The exterior walls have been reconstructed to the original
height of the podium, restoring the base moulding and the crowning
based on remains documented from excavations, as well as the flight
of steps going into the temple. Thanks to this work on the front part,
the temple is a central point of reference from any area of the forum, as
it would have been in Roman times. This work was complemented
by other actions aimed at improving the understanding of the set
of small Imperial period shrines. The reconstructions carried out in
this area in the 1970s have been removed thus avoiding an image
that greatly distorts the interpretation of the site. Finally, we would
also mention diverse general work carried out to the area behind the
temples (cleaning and maintenance of the water tanks, regularising
the level of circulation, landscaping the area, etc.) (fig. 7).
3. The tabernae in the west part. This is an ensemble made up of nine
areas laid out in a correlative way, with regular sizes, apart from the
southernmost one, which occupies a larger area. In a later alteration,
two of these rooms were paved with opus sectile and another
with tessellated mosaic. The good condition of the remains in this
sector enabled an intervention that was mainly aimed at consolidating
the walls and, where necessary, restoring the pilasters in the wall
shared with the forum ambulacrum, which had disappeared. The
project also included restoring the sectile flooring, preserved in situ,
and re-laying the tessellated mosaic, which had been preserved in the
museum store rooms, so that it can be contemplated in its original
location (fig. 8). Finally, the levels of circulation corresponding to
the rest of the areas in the forum sector were also restored.
4. The basilica and the curia. The currently preserved remains of these
buildings basically correspond to their foundations. The level of
circulation of the remains coincided almost exactly with that of the
square and the ambulacrum, making the overall understanding of
this sector and the identification of each building extremely difficult.
As a result of this, the most notable action is that of recovering the
original differences in the level between the basilica and the ambulacrum,
thus emphasising the visual separation between both sectors,
which is also reinforced by the different colour and texture of
the earth used in restoring the levels of circulation. The colonnade
that marked the entrance to the basilica has been insinuated on the
surface by means of laying some plinths. Finally, the level of the floor
of the curia has also been restored (fig. 9), which is higher than that
77