Although the work of
re-designing the ancient Capitoline hili, seat of civic
power, had already been started in the 15th century, it
had a new push during the pontificate of Paul Ill.
Connected to the Farnese family, the entire area was the
object of changes by 1535. Two years later, it was
decided to restore the Conservatives Palace - with the
transfer of the famous equestrian Statue of Marcus
Aurelius that the Lateran Chapter had, in vain, asked
not to be moved from its original site. Michelange10
also seemed to be against the move. He was probably
already involved in the project, maybe limited only to
consultancy on the changes to the pedestal requested in
March, 1539.
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Heart of the entire Michelangelo
architectural accomplishment is the Senatorial Palace,
erected in 1573 on the structure with the double staircase
of his designing, perfectly in axis with the bell tower
above, rebuilt on the plans of Martino Longhi the Elder.The
effect is amplified by the access steps to the square and by
the central Fountain, flanked by the statues of the Nile and
the Tiber, added to the feet of the building at the end of
thp. 1_ROs.The square is characterised by the famous
twelve-pointed star shape recalling religious reasons (the
twelve apostles). After the death of Michelangelo, with the
appointment of Giacomo Della Porta, Michelangelo's ideas -
probably already fixed in a group project - were carried out
with the completion, to the right of the square, by the
elevation of the Conservatives Palace with the giant order,
modified in part by Della Porta, who also built the facing
New Palace, finished around 1603.
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The equestrian statue of Marcus
Aurelius is one of the rare works of its type coming down to
us, probably because it was kept by Constantine, the first
Christian emperor. Built in honour of Marcus Aurelius, it
was original at the Lateran in the residence of his mother
Domitia Lucilla, where the emperor was born. It remained at
that site al through the Middles Ages, when a fountain was
placed there. After the recent restoration, the splendid
bronze work, once gilded, was moved inside the Conservatives
Palace and replaced by a copy.
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