There are many, many old photographs of the Arch of Constantine, the Colosseum, and the now-vanished Meta Sudans, the fountain that stood outside it and was demolished by Mussolini. A few more have come my way this week. For most of them I am indebted to the amazing Roma Ieri Oggi site and its twitter feed @romaierioggi.
The first is from 1930, and shows an unusual view:
(I do wish he would not vandalise the photo with a watermark).
Helpfully he has zoomed in on the Meta Sudans:
Another item is from some amazing aerial photographs from ca 1926 by Walter Mittelholzer. These may be found here. This one shows the area that we are interested in, although sadly the Meta Sudans is but a bump:
Another photograph via @PhotoVintageFr depicts the Meta Sudans from the opposite side:
While this one shows it peeking through the Arch of Constantine:
Finally there is this one, from here. It’s from 1850, and taken from high up in the Colosseum:
Really somebody ought to make a 3-D model of the structure as it was at this time!
Amazing work, Mr Pearse. Such an otherwise seemingly minor architectural item with such a history. The link to https://www.romaierioggi.it/ made my eyes large enough to mistake me for Alita (geek reference). I have scheduled time next week to absorb (and Google translate) as much of that site as I can in 2 hours.
Am I wrong or are there a bunch of missing panels on one side of the Arch of Constantine in the bottom picture. I would love to see a current picture from the same viewpoint. The grape pergolas are gone, more ancient wonders exposed.
The arch of Constantine is much photographed, so I would google it.
Great photos as always.. It wouldn’t be the worse idea in the world for the city to recreate the fountain.. Would give Rome yet another one….
I think so…