The Forum
Title
The Forum
Description
Before the medieval period, the Forum was a popular stop on processions of all kinds, especially funerals. Emperors and popes would parade through the arches before reaching their final resting places. While heavily associated with a romanticized imperial Rome, the main attraction of the Forum to medieval papal procession as an important location was the open space that could more easily accommodate more significant amount of people. The streets of medieval Rome were tight, and ill-suited for hosting crowds. As liturgy developed over the medieval period, the pope found himself responsible for addressing the people of the city no less than six times during the procession, each at a location of liturgical or historical significance. In order to do so, the procession needed space for the masses to congregate, thus the Forum was used.
Even before the medieval period, the Forum was not considered to be an ideal location for a processional stop, as basilicas and houses congested the entrances to the open space, limiting the visual aspect of the liturgy to the surrounding streets. Between the ninth and fourteenth century, the population of Tiber bend more than tripled, and processional routes began to favor the area. After the Popes’ return from Avignon in the fourteenth century, the church began to invest heavily in processional infrastructure in Tiber bend and near the Vatican, reconfiguring city spaces to open up wide, straight roads that allowed processions more spatial freedom. Rather than continuing to use the forum, Popes instead chose to address the people in the piazzas in front of major churches and other landmarks within these redesigned processional spaces.
Even before the medieval period, the Forum was not considered to be an ideal location for a processional stop, as basilicas and houses congested the entrances to the open space, limiting the visual aspect of the liturgy to the surrounding streets. Between the ninth and fourteenth century, the population of Tiber bend more than tripled, and processional routes began to favor the area. After the Popes’ return from Avignon in the fourteenth century, the church began to invest heavily in processional infrastructure in Tiber bend and near the Vatican, reconfiguring city spaces to open up wide, straight roads that allowed processions more spatial freedom. Rather than continuing to use the forum, Popes instead chose to address the people in the piazzas in front of major churches and other landmarks within these redesigned processional spaces.
Creator
Finn Tierney (2020)
Source
Favro, Diane, and Christopher Johanson. "Death in Motion: Funeral Processions in the Roman Forum." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 69, no. 1 (2010): 12-37.
Bauman, Lisa Passaglia. The Rhetoric of Power: Della Rovere Palaces and Processional Routes in Late Fifteenth Century Rome. (New York, Italica Press, 2015), 73.
Carver, Catherine. As the Bells Toll: Parish Proximity in Medieval Rome. (Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK; Rochester, NY, USA: Boydell and Brewer, 2017), 196.
Bauman, Lisa Passaglia. The Rhetoric of Power: Della Rovere Palaces and Processional Routes in Late Fifteenth Century Rome. (New York, Italica Press, 2015), 73.
Carver, Catherine. As the Bells Toll: Parish Proximity in Medieval Rome. (Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK; Rochester, NY, USA: Boydell and Brewer, 2017), 196.
Date
1199
Identifier
forum_2019
Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Via della Salara Vecchia, Rome, Metropolitan City of Rome
Description
Before the medieval period, the Forum was a popular stop on processions of all kinds, especially funerals. Emperors and popes would parade through the arches before reaching their final resting places. While heavily associated with a romanticized imperial Rome, the main attraction of the Forum to medieval papal procession as an important location was the open space that could more easily accommodate more significant amount of people. The streets of medieval Rome were tight, and ill-suited for hosting crowds. As liturgy developed over the medieval period, the pope found himself responsible for addressing the people of the city no less than six times during the procession, each at a location of liturgical or historical significance. In order to do so, the procession needed space for the masses to congregate, thus the Forum was used.Even before the medieval period, the Forum was not considered to be an ideal location for a processional stop, as basilicas and houses congested the entrances to the open space, limiting the visual aspect of the liturgy to the surrounding streets. Between the ninth and fourteenth century, the population of Tiber bend more than tripled, and processional routes began to favor the area. After the Popes’ return from Avignon in the fourteenth century, the church began to invest heavily in processional infrastructure in Tiber bend and near the Vatican, reconfiguring city spaces to open up wide, straight roads that allowed processions more spatial freedom. Rather than continuing to use the forum, Popes instead chose to address the people in the piazzas in front of major churches and other landmarks within these redesigned processional spaces.
Creator
Finn Tierney (2020)Date
1199Coverage
1300sSource
Favro, Diane, and Christopher Johanson. "Death in Motion: Funeral Processions in the Roman Forum." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 69, no. 1 (2010): 12-37.Bauman, Lisa Passaglia. The Rhetoric of Power: Della Rovere Palaces and Processional Routes in Late Fifteenth Century Rome. (New York, Italica Press, 2015), 73.
Carver, Catherine. As the Bells Toll: Parish Proximity in Medieval Rome. (Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK; Rochester, NY, USA: Boydell and Brewer, 2017), 196.