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Capitoline Museums Rome

Here you will see not one but two museums, which house an impressive display of Roman sculpture, as well as the Palazzo dei Conservatori and Braccio Nuovo.

The most famous sculpture housed in the museum is the bronze cast of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It is impressive in its size and skill as an equestrian work, but also for the simple fact that it is bronze. Few bronze sculptures remain because they were melted down for weapons, but many believed the statue was of Emperor Constantine who made Christianity the official religion of the empire, so it was preserved. Other famous works in the museum are 'Dying Gaul', 'Cupid and Psyche' and 'Capitoline Venus'.

Adjacent to the museum is the Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, which is beautiful on the inside even though the outside looks plain. The most amazing fact though, is that the columns of the church were all stolen from ancient roman buildings and placed in the church. Written on one column you can read the name Augustus, meaning that single column was taken from the palace of the Roman Emperor.