Project: Imperial Fora

The whole archeological area of the Imperial Forum on the Palatine Hill is an open air museum integrated into the city’s urban fabric. The complex conservation project featured a new lighting system designed to make the site visible from Capitoline Hill and from the walkway on Via dei Fori Imperiali, and to light up the walkways inside Via Sacra. The lighting project aimed to restore “natural” night lighting to the whole area to allow for a real appreciation of the monuments, their materials, colors and sizes and of the relationships of scale between them. Project constraints were defined as: respect for the integrity of the site and the archeological relics and respect for regulations in matters of historic heritage, safety and environmental legislation. Lighting stations were installed outside of the archeological areas with groups of projector lamps which control optics, form and cast shadows, glare and dispersion of light flux, using sources of outstanding color rendition. These remote fixtures are concealed from view as much as possible, pay special attention to ease of management and maintenance and provide measured luminance values for each and every monument, illuminating them in harmony with their archeological surroundings.