Global Warming Threatens the Past
May 14th, 2007
I came across this interesting BBC article on the current fragility of Rome’s ancient monuments. While the article’s main focus is on how many of the monuments do not have the funds to sufficiently be repaired, it also had this interesting by-line:
One of the big problems is global warming. The climate is changing. From time to time the city is deluged with water from freak rainstorms. Water that seeps into the caverns further erodes the foundations of the [Palatine] hill. [Vestal Note- Ironically, a large part of downtown Rome was originally marshes before the Romans built a massive sewer system to drain the area]
The article fails to mention that the cause of global warming, pollution, has also been slowly eroding the monuments over the past century, turning many columns from white to a charcoal black. Due to a city-wide facelift for the Jubilee celebrations in 2000, most of the facades across the city are again a pristine white, but these cleaning techniques are sometimes as harmful as the pollution itself. However, if you need to remind yourself of the harm global warming is doing not just to our future, but also to our past, drop by the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome. Inside you’ll find the original famous Marcus Aurelius statue (pictured above),which was the centerpiece of Michaelangelo’s design of the Campidoglio. However, over the past century, the statue became so corroded by acid rain, it had to be moved indoors.
Link to BBC Article
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