Vivid scenes of battlefield decapitations and female prisoners dragged off by their hair, carved into the 1,840-year-old marble Column of Marcus Aurelius towering over central Rome, are being brought back into focus through a $2.3 million laser restoration.
A team of 18 specialist restorers has been working since the spring of 2025, using handheld short-pulse lasers and chemical wraps to remove centuries of grime from the 100-foot-tall monument. The column was built between 180 CE, the year the Roman philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius died, and 193 CE.
The project marks the most extensive use of laser technology ever undertaken on an ancient monument, according to the chief restorer, Marta Baumgartner, who said the decision came despite the cost.
“The laser is a tool that is producing excellent results in restoration work, and the choice we made was to use it on the entire external frieze, the decorative band, of the column,” Baumgartner told reporters granted rare access to the 16-levels of scaffolding surrounding the monument.
Vivid scenes of battlefield decapitations and female prisoners dragged off by their hair, carved into the 1,840-year-old marble Column of Marcus Aurelius towering over central Rome, are being brought back into focus through a $2.3 million laser restoration.
A team of 18 specialist restorers has been working since the spring of 2025, using handheld short-pulse lasers and chemical wraps to remove centuries of grime from the 100-foot-tall monument. The column was built between 180 CE, the year the Roman philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius died, and 193 CE.
The project marks the most extensive use of laser technology ever undertaken on an ancient monument, according to the chief restorer, Marta Baumgartner, who said the decision came despite the cost.
“The laser is a tool that is producing excellent results in restoration work, and the choice we made was to use it on the entire external frieze, the decorative band, of the column,” Baumgartner told reporters granted rare access to the 16-levels of scaffolding surrounding the monument.
Read more: https://cnn.it/48WIh6v