Temple of Claudius Marcelllus Street
It is situated between the Capitulares Street and Claudio Marcelo
Street, and its posterior limit is María Cristina Street. The Town Hall of Córdoba is the owner of the plot where it is set.
This monument is known as The Roman Temple, it was built between the I and II Century like the Provincial Forum of the Colonia Patricia, name that the city had during roman time. It has six columns in front of the porch (hexastyle). The Circus is put in the east direction like the temple. The monuments were put on different levels, for this reason a big terrace was built and on which
the temple was put. Big counterforts are built to keep the structure, in form of rack known as anterides. The difference in height between the temple and circus favored raising the hypothesis that postulates the existence of an intermediate terrace which would have provided a connection between both constructions.
In the project it is thought to build a square, the temple and even an aqueduct, Aqua Nova Domitiana Augusta, would have water in this large complex building.
The complex was built in the period of the Emperor Claudius (41-54 a.C), but does not end until the mandate of Domitian (81-96 a.C.), when it is endowed with water. It suffered some modifications in the II Century
, changes that coincides with the moving of the Colonial Forum near the Convent of Saint Agnes.
The materials used in construction were varied. On the Opus Caementitium are available many blocks for local calcarenita. And the most outstanding elements the columns and capitals in white marble. The upper terrace, which is made with purple limestone, also of local origin, can be visited. Precisely the upper terrace is the best known and that we can visit, while we have less information on the
other two platforms or terraces because they can be partially visited because they are under modern building, such as the Town Hall. The temple was rebuilt by Félix Hernández in the past century. The low recovery in the immediate vicinity epigraphy contrasts with the various pieces of sculpture documented so far, very incomplete, but they provide important data about the decoration that should possess the complex. The magnificent temple, which today can be reconstructed by Félix Hernández, the columns of the arches, with six of these pieces in front and ten on each side, making its size one of the largest in the city.
Text: Fran Peña.
Traslated by Sara Moretti
Art, Culture and Tourism in Cordoba