After an absence of over a thousand years, the colossal (42.6 feet high) statue of the Emperor Constantine, is complete and back in Rome, having just been unveiled in the garden of the Capitoline Museum, overlooking the Roman Forum.
Constantine, born around 280, spent from 306 to 312 maneuvering to seize control of the western portion of the Roman empire. In 312 he defeated the Emperor Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge outside of Rome, and sometime in the next few years the statue was completed and placed in the Basilica of Maxentius, located between the Forum and the Colosseum. According to Wikipedia:
The great head, arms and legs of the Colossus were carved from white marble, while the rest of the body consisted of a brick core and wooden framework, possibly covered with gilded bronze.
The statue was pillaged during the early Middle Ages although various portions of the statue have been preserved and ended up in different Italian museums. I'd seen the head and other fragments during my visit to the Capitoline in 2006.
(Statue fragments)
The unveiled statue is a recreation that, according to this AP article:
. . . was imagined using 3D modelling technology from scans of the nine giant original marble body parts that remain.
Constantine went on to defeat Licinius, his rival in the East, in 324, reuniting the empire under one ruler. Before his death he began the construction of a new capitol, modestly called Constantinople, and accepted baptism as a Christian on his deathbed.
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