The Forum and its buildings

Hours

Hours are the Park’s listing for 15 October to 15 March, from its open-buildings page. They differ in summer. Each entry paraphrases the Park’s own page for that place, or its easy-reading guide where there is no page.

The Forum

The Park describes the Civil Forum as the core of daily life: the focal point of the buildings for city administration and justice, business and markets, and the main places of worship. The square was reshaped between the 3rd and 2nd century BC, with porticoes and a floor of tuff slabs, and later repaved in travertine. The Temple of Jupiter forms its axis, lined up with Mount Vesuvius. Look for: Travertine slabs with grooves where the bronze letters of a large inscription once sat; the line from the temple steps to the volcano. Park listing: 9:00 to 17:00. Marked with the Park’s accessible symbol.

Temple of Jupiter

The temple closes the north side of the Forum with Vesuvius rising behind it. After the colony was founded in 80 BC it became a Capitolium, with cult statues of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva set on a high base so everyone in the square could see them. Underground rooms in the base (favissae) held offerings and, according to some studies, may have protected the public treasury. The Park’s easy-reading guide notes that today you mainly see a large staircase with six columns. Look for: The staircase and column bases, and the view of the volcano from the steps. Park listing: 9:00 to 17:00.

The Basilica

The Park’s guide calls the Basilica the most important and elegant building in the Forum, where citizens met to decide city matters, make rules and judge people who broke them. You walk between two rows of columns. The roof has collapsed, and the statues that once filled the hall are gone. Look for: The two rows of columns and the scale of the hall. Park listing: 9:00 to 17:00. Marked with the Park’s accessible symbol.

Sanctuary of Apollo

One of the oldest places of worship in the city. The Park dates an archaic temple here to the 6th century BC, and the sanctuary reached its final form between the 3rd and 2nd century BC with a temple on a podium, a portico around a courtyard and an altar in the centre. The festivities for Apollo and his twin Diana involved initiations of boys and girls. The bronze statues of Apollo and Diana seen here are copies, as the originals are in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Look for: The altar, the surviving columns of the temple and the two bronze copies. Park listing: 9:00 to 17:00. Marked with the Park’s accessible symbol.

The Macellum

The market building of the Forum. The Park describes a tuff quadriporticus with a hall for the imperial cult on the east side, a circular structure (tholos) in the courtyard used for selling and cleaning fish, and shops along the south side. The walls of the porticoes were painted with scenes of daily life, including selling fish and poultry. It was built between 130 and 120 BC. Look for: The plan of the courtyard and the tholos; the statue niches of the side wall, which hold copies. Park listing: 9:00 to 17:00. Marked with the Park’s accessible symbol.

Forum Baths

Built behind the Temple of Jupiter in the years just after the colony was founded in 80 BC, and heavily damaged in the earthquake of AD 62 before being restored. Men and women entered by separate doors. In the men’s dressing room the Park points to niches decorated with terracotta male figures (telamones), stucco in relief on the vault and a large bronze brazier used for heating. More than 500 lamps were found at the entrance to the men’s section, used for evening opening. Look for: The decorated vault and the bronze brazier in the dressing room. Park listing: 9:15 to 16:20, last entrance 16:00.