22 February 2012

The Trophy of the Alpes - How it was Built


The museum, alongside the Trophy, is excellent and you'll find this model of the monument as it was when it was built in the first century B.C.

It is made of interlocking substructures, which make the structure very solid. A solid internal cylinder with foundations composed of a ring of radiating pillars supports an upper collanade which was very tall. Around this the quadrilateral base walls were structured by large enveloping stonework walls and other internal walls made of small stonework which formed cavities filled with packing material. This was filled with blockwork and mortar, the layers of which are still visible, showing how work progressed on the site.

They sure knew how to build...those Romans.



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds very interesting!
A pity the buses go so seldom..
Last time I had 30 min in La Turbie!
Rushed through it in a hurry.. :-((
Barbara from Germany

Anonymous said...

Fascinating, especially to us Vitruvians! Thanks, Jilly

AL said...

Along with yesterdays picture this is just amazing. The fact that there is so much Roman building still around is a great testament to their skills.

tennisjazz said...

thanks for this series, Jilly. Meant to visit La Turbie on our last two stays in Menton, and will now be sure to, on our third stay this fall :-)

Gailsman said...

Clever yes, but they may have copied the Egyptians with the pyramids etc. Makes you wonder how they put them up though. No cranes or JCBs. Just slave labour.

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