PULA 2014

Augustus Temple

Augustus Temple is a fully preserved antique sacral building, which captures the eye of any visitor of the Pula Forum. It was built during lifetime of the first Roman emperor Augustus between the year 2 BC (when Augustus was awarded the honorific title Pater patriae – Father of Homeland) and year 14 AD (the year of Augustus’s death). It was dedicated to the emperor's goddess Roma, personification of the town of Rome. The Augustus Temple in Pula is among the most beautiful examples of the early Roman Empire architecture. It has got the form of a simple rectangle with the front porch, supported in the front of the building by four and laterally by one pillar with Corinthian capital on each side. On the architrave there is an embossment frieze decorated with acanthus leaves, grape vine, fruit and bird motifs. On the facade the dedication of the temple is still partly visible: ROMAE ET AUGUSTO CAESARI DIVI F(ilio) PATRI PATRIAE (To Rome and Caesar Augustus, divine son and the father of homeland)
Under Byzantine rule the temple was transformed into a church, and for some time served as granary. On the outer mantle of the temple the consequences of a dynamic Pula’s history can be traced, while the roof construction was damaged in fires on several occasions; the whole west wall collapsed in 1751. During the Second World War (on 15 March 1945) the temple was directly hit by an aeroplane bomb, which completely demolished the porch. It was reconstructed by Italian archaeologists during the two years of the Allied Military Government (1945-1947). Today in Augustus's Temple there is a permanent exhibition of Antique Stone Statues, which makes part of the Antique Collection of the Istrian Archaeological Museum.
On 19 August 2014 the 2000^th anniversary of the death of the first Roman emperor Augustus, to whom also this temple is dedicated, will be celebrated. Augustus, by his full name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, was born in Rome in year 63 BC and was the first and among the greatest Roman emperors. He brought to an end the long period of civil wars in Rome and established peace in Rome (Pax Romana). The name Augustus is in fact the title awarded him by the Senate in year 27 BC, which is taken as the beginning of the Roman Empire.


Darko Komšo, Director of the Istrian Archaeological Museum