 Today we're going to take a look at Il Plastico, the great model of Imperial Rome, made by hand. The Plastico is one of the greatest things about the museum, and what it is, is a representation of all of ancient Rome within the walls, about 3,000 acres, and everything that was contained inside of it. And when it was constructed in the early 20th century, it represented all that base of knowledge, what we knew about ancient Rome. So today we know more information, but still today for its size and scale, and the fact that you can walk around with the bird's eye perspective, it is unsurpassed. The archaeologist and architect Italo Gismondi created this amazing model. The model is on a scale of 1 to 250. It's about 20 by 20 meters. Matching the original scale and size of the Severin former Urbis marble map recently reopened in a new museum on the Kylian Hill. Gismondi worked on the model between 1933 and 1937, and afterward it was further amplified when located in the Roman Civilization Museum in Eur. Now besides the former Urbis map and fragments, it is also based on Rudolfo Lanciani's former Urbis, a richly documented map of new discoveries made in the 1890s, and it was published in 1901 at a scale of 1 to 1,000. Gismondi's model is known in Italian as il plastico, and the model was made by hand out of alabaster chalk, metal frameworks, and vegetal fibers. It's divided into 150 sections. Gismondi's ancient Rome represents the Constantinian Age of Imperial Rome, so as to include all the great pagan monuments in buildings of the imperial city. The plastico famously appeared in the film Gladiator to give an awesome view of the city from above. And no matter how many times today we are amazed with computer generated models of ancient Rome, this nearly 100 year old handmade model still thrills and inspires the visitor today. The plastico, or the great model of ancient Rome dating to the time of Constantin, is an incredible wonder. When you come to the museum, you really get a sense here of what ancient Rome was like. Now what's it based upon? It's based upon archaeological evidence. It's based upon the fragments of a plan, the famous former Urbis, which essentially was plastered on a wall in the form of the Spasian. And ultimately we only have small amounts of the fragments recomposed, but it helps give us that picture of what ancient Rome looks like. Then you have many people for hundreds of years studying Rome, making their own plans, archaeological endeavors, and so we fill it out. And this is what is represented in the base of knowledge and what we have in the early 20th century. And still today, in the 21st century, it is a grand achievement. And you can walk around and get a bird's eye perspective at the expanse of this great megalopolis, this great cosmopolitan center. You can see everything within the walls, the ancient walls built by the Emperor Aurelian in the 3rd century AD. You can see all 14 regions, from the Emporium and Warehouse District and Distaccio, over to the Aventine Hill, down over to the Bazar Caracalla along the Via Appia, the Circus Maximus, the Palatine Hill where we get the palace and residence of the emperors, the aqueduct lines coming in, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Bazar Diocletian, the Quirinal Hill, over into the campus marshes with great famous monuments like the Theater of Marcellus, the Theater of Balbus, the Theater of Pompey, the Stadium and the Pantheon, and all the way over to Castel San Angelo and what will eventually become the site of St. Peter's. Let's explore more of the Plastico now. We have the chance to admire the Aurelianic Wall Circuit reconstructed and as we go along we see the towers, most of which aren't so well preserved here, they are reconstructed. We also have inside the city an impressive aqueduct line extending and then you have a lot of the open spaces that are filled in by just bonding with trees as well as a number of other monuments, whether villas or tombs of varying periods. But I think one thing that we can say about this map as a whole is that there's been given a kind of a total approach to give us a city that's in use in a city that's also landscaped. Here we're following along the aqua cloud. It makes its way through the Kylian Hill descending towards the Palatine. Now we know as it gets close to the Palatine today through recent archaeological studies there was a siphon system to push that water up the hill. Here we have it as a large aqueduct bridge, part of which anyways is still visible on the Palatine Hill today. Here we have a section of the Redanac Wall Circuit but also the impressive Anio Novus and the aqua cloud are coming in right at Porta Majority. The front of it is the Yurisaki's tomb, so we have a lot of archaeology that we can see along the walls. Here we have an example of monuments pre-existing that are incorporated into the early Aniq Wall Circuit. It's the Augustan Age Pyramid of Cestius by the Austean Gate. Here we can follow along the Tiber River. We can see that much of the area along the Tiber River was fortified in the Capus Marshes area as we go past the mausoleum of Hadrian. Also see all the bridges in the city. Here we're passing in today's Testatio area. We see it's a warehouse district on both sides of the Tiber River, both on the Tiberi side as well as the Testatio side. And here we actually see Mon's Testatius. That hill of crushed amphorae that still is visible today and much of this area is a warehouse district. Some of the remains of some of those warehouses going back to the 2nd century BC are still visible. Here we have a stunning view of the Baths of Caracalla along the Via Appia. And from here we have the Tiber Island linked by the Ponsestius and the Ponsfabricius as we pivot up towards past the Formbo Arum towards the Circus Maximus. Of course the Circus Maximus was the ultimate entertainment venue in the city of Rome holding hundreds of thousands of spectators and along its length there developed the Palace of the Emperor. Here's a view in the distance of the Temple of Jupiter, Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill and in the foreground it is this magnificent palace. The Palace of Demission. Now we're passing along the exterior facade of the Severant Edition including the Septizodium. Behind it is the Aqueduct Line of the Aquaclaudia and the Colosseum and the Colossus. Here's a great view of the Imperial Fora as well as the Roman Forum. And this is the core of the ancient city and we see a lot of its attention has been drawn to this area all lined with porticoes. Here's a view of the Colosseum, the Baths of Titus and the Baths of Trajan. The Temple of Venus in Rome overlooking the Colosseum. The Colosseum here again is that Temple of Venus in Rome, the Colosseum and the Baths of Trajan. The Baths of Titus and the four gladiatorial schools, the real standout being the Lutus Magnus. Behind the Medesudans we can see the Arch of Constantine that reminds us that the date of the city that's on view is Constantinian. We travel down again the Tiber River we can see the magnificent Mausoleum of Hadrian. And from here we're at Mons Vaticanus on the Tristevri side pivoting over to the Campus Marchus and that track that we see along the water is the Tragarium. From the Mausoleum of Augustus pivoting up toward the façade of the Hadrianic Pantheon. Just looking across the Campus Marchus spread in the distance at the theater of Marcellus here in the foreground the theater of Pompey so magnificent and so large. The smaller theater structure is actually the Odeon, the Music Hall of Domitian right next to the Stadium of Domitian. And above it is the Baths of Alexander Severus and then the Pantheon. I'm going to give you some view of the Campus Marchus again now looking at that open space which is the Circus Fulminius lined with temples next to the Theater of Marcellus pivoting over to the Forum Boerium. We hope you enjoyed this view of the Plástico by Gismondi. It really is a magnificent representation of the Imperial City. Thanks for watching. Please subscribe and follow along and of course you can take one of our courses. Just go on the website and get involved.