Search for Treasure Worldwide Chapter 1776: The thoughtful Roman emperor
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After leaving the Vatican, the first stop Ye Tian and the others went to was the Capitoline Museum, a famous museum located in Capitoline Square.
The Capitoline Square is one of the oldest squares in Rome. It is close to the Venetian Square and the Roman Forum where Ye Tian and the others have been before. It is the seat of the Roman city government.
In this ancient square, there are mainly the Roman city government, the equestrian bronze statue of Emperor Aurelius and three statues of the God of Wisdom, the God of the Tiber River and the Sphinx.
But for Ye Tian, the most important building in this square is the Capitoline Museum.
The Capitoline Museums is the most important museum in Rome and a famous museum that all art lovers who visit Rome must not miss.
This museum was founded in 1471 AD. The original collection came from a group of bronze sculptures donated by Pope Sixtus IV.
The museum's collection has since expanded to include a large number of ancient Roman statues, inscriptions, and other artifacts, medieval and Renaissance art, gems, coins, etc. The collection is very rich.
Today's Capitoline Museum is mainly composed of several palaces surrounding Capitoline Square, namely the New Palace and the Conservative Palace, the Senate Palace, and the Clementino Palace adjacent to the Conservative Palace .
Connecting these ancient palaces is a corridor located underground in the square, called the Gemstone Corridor, which is also part of the Capitoline Museums.
Just after nine o'clock in the morning, Ye Tian's motorcade arrived at Capitoline Square and stopped on the roadside in front of the square.
After getting off the car one after another, they strolled into this ancient square while admiring the surrounding scenery, looking like ordinary tourists.
But in the eyes of everyone else in the square, they were anything but ordinary people.
The arrival of their group inevitably caused a commotion. Almost everyone looked here. People were both curious and a little scared!
"I'll go! Why did this **** Steven come to Capitoline Square? This is not good news. I hope no accidents happen today!"
"No matter how crazy this **** Steven is, he wouldn't dare to cause trouble here! The Senate Palace next to it is the seat of the Roman government, and there are so many police patrolling the square!"
The Roman police got the news earlier than tourists and passers-by in the square.
At this time, every Roman policeman patrolling the square was on high alert as if they were facing a formidable enemy. They were staring closely at Ye Tian and the others as well as other people in the square, and did not dare to relax for a moment!
On the streets around the square, many police cars are rushing quickly from a distance, ready to support the police in Capitoline Square and protect the Rome city government!
Ye Tiandu saw the reactions of the people in the square and the reactions of the Roman police one by one.
But he turned a blind eye and just nodded gently to these guys with a smile, then led Betty and the others into the square and explained to them.
“The Capitoline Square is another outstanding work of the art master Michelangelo. All the details in the square, even the design of the ground paving, are from Michelangelo’s hand.
The renovation plans for the several main buildings that make up the Capitoline Museums, such as the Senate Palace, the New Palace, and the Conservative Palace, were also written by Michelangelo, who designed a new appearance.
Unfortunately, Michelangelo passed away before the repair work was completed. Later generations spent more than 400 years based on Michelangelo's drawings to complete this work..."
While talking, Ye Tian and the others had arrived in front of the equestrian bronze statue of Emperor Aurelius standing in the center of the square. They immediately stopped and began to admire this famous sculpture.
This is a tall and heroic bronze figure statue. The Roman Emperor Aurelius looked thoughtful on his mount, raising his right hand to the front and right, just like other Roman leaders.
But this statue does not seem to reflect the aura of the Roman emperor giving orders, the domineering and heroic spirit of ruling the world!
On the contrary, it gives people a sense of calm. The Roman Emperor Aurelius looked down on this troubled and noisy world, seeming to be giving fatalistic advice to the people.
The mount under his crotch is also different. Although the carving is very vivid, its posture is not exciting, but it looks like it is moving forward steadily.
Unlike other statues of ancient Roman military leaders, on this famous statue, the arrogant demeanor of the Roman military leaders is gone, and even the statesmanlike demeanor cannot be found here.
To put it simply, this bronze figure gives visitors a feeling of depression, which is very special!
After standing in front of the statue and admiring it for a moment, Ye Tian's clear voice reached everyone's ears.
“The bronze statue in front of you is the famous equestrian bronze statue of Emperor Aurelius, but this is just a replica, and the original is stored in the Capitoline Museum.
Emperor Aurelius was the last of the "Five Wise Emperors of Rome" and the last emperor during the heyday of the ancient Roman Empire. He made great achievements in history and was ranked as one of the Five Wise Emperors.
During his reign, the Roman Empire faced tremendous border pressure. The Parthians invaded in the east and the Germans invaded in the north. Wars continued for years and it was besieged on all sides.
Fortunately, Emperor Aurelius was able to conquer the war and led the Roman army to conquer the east and west, so that the Roman Empire could barely maintain its original territory and maintain its superficial strength for the time being.
In addition to his illustrious martial arts, Emperor Aurelius was also a Stoic philosopher. During his military career, he also left behind a masterpiece of philosophy, Meditations, written in Greek.
After Emperor Aurelius died, his ineffective son Commodus, the young emperor who killed his father and usurped the throne in the movie "Gladiator", succeeded to the throne and became the new Roman emperor.
Historically, although Commodus did not usurp the throne by killing his father, he was cowardly in nature, harsh in appearance and introverted in nature, focusing on military affairs over literature. He practiced tyranny during his reign, and was later killed, ending the Antoninus dynasty.
At this point, one of the most powerful and glorious periods in the history of the Roman Empire, the golden age of the Five Wise Emperors, was gone forever. From then on, the Roman Empire gradually declined and eventually perished.
In the Middle Ages, most statues of Roman emperors were destroyed because they were considered pagans by Christians. However, this equestrian bronze statue of Emperor Aurelius was miraculously preserved.
Because this statue was mistaken for that of Emperor Constantine, it survived and remains today. For conservation reasons, the original has been moved to the Capitoline Museums.
There are many bronze sculptures in Rome, but the equestrian bronze statue of Emperor Aurelius collected in the Capitoline Museum is the best preserved of all ancient Roman bronze statues..."
While admiring the tall and heroic bronze sculpture in front of him, Ye Tian introduced the story hidden behind the sculpture to Betty and the others. The explanation was still very exciting, professional and fascinating.
Listening to his explanation, not only Betty and the others, but also other tourists around them, were even fascinated.
At the same time, everyone's understanding of this statue has become deeper.
After admiring the bronze equestrian statue of Emperor Aurelius, Ye Tian and the others soon came to the gate of the Senate Palace, where the Roman city government is located, and began to admire the three sculptures standing here.
In front of the Palace of the Elders, there are three statues.
In the middle is the God of Wisdom, on the right is the God of the Tiber River, the symbol of Rome, the statue of a she-wolf raising a baby, and on the left is the ancient Egyptian Sphinx, lifelike!
The statue of 'Wolf Breeding Baby' has been seen and introduced in other places in Rome, so Ye Tian did not repeat it again, but just explained the other two statues to Betty and the others!
During the explanation process, he did not forget to turn on the perspective, and secretly looked through the three statues in front of him, as well as the situation inside and outside the Palace of the Senate, and deep underground in the Capitoline Square.
Everything in front of his eyes was seen by Ye Tian at a glance, and there was no secret at all.
There are no secrets hidden in the three statues that were copied by later generations. Instead, there are surprising discoveries in the Palace of the Senate and deep underground in the Capitoline Square.
In the two rooms near the square in the Palace of Elders, Ye Tian discovered two hidden compartments one after another.
In the first dark room, he saw two ancient oil paintings on canvas, which radiated dazzling and beautiful light in his eyes, and had many charming haloes.
They are respectively a work by Tintoretto, a representative painter of the Venetian School in the late Renaissance, and a masterpiece by Caravaggio, a famous painter of the Baroque school.
Without exception, these two paintings are priceless top-notch works of art, but they were hidden in the secret room of the Senate Palace at some point and never saw the light of day again!
In another secret room, there is a pile of sealed documents.
Although he didn't know Italian, Ye Tian could determine from the dates marked on the documents that those documents were from the mid-to-late 19th century and should be related to the Italian Unification Movement.
The mid-to-late 19th century was the era when the Italian unification movement was surging, with heroes emerging in large numbers, and Rome at that time was also in turmoil!
In addition to the dates marked on those documents, the light they radiate in Ye Tian's eyes is the best explanation and the most accurate evidence.
Deep underground in the Capitoline Square, there are several ruins from the ancient Roman period, and most of them are from the Roman Republic period.
Buried in those ruins are some incomplete marble statues, various types of pottery, rusty weapons, and other items, many of which are valuable and top-notch antiques.
There is no doubt that once these treasures deep underground in the Palace of the Senate and the Forum are revealed, they will definitely cause quite a stir, and may even rewrite the partial history of the Italian Unification Movement!
But it is a pity that their location puts Ye Tianke out of reach. There is no way to get them, so he can only look forward to the ocean and sigh.
Unless the Italian authorities suddenly had a seizure that day and wanted to sell the Palazzo della Sera and Capitoline Square for money, then he would be able to get these valuable treasures!
Then he would be a gentleman and sneak into the Palace of Elders in the middle of the night, unknowingly open the two secret compartments, steal the two priceless oil paintings, and make a fortune!
But Ye Tian disdains such a thing, and there is no need for it!
In the blink of an eye, Ye Tian had completed the perspective and then withdrew his gaze.
After admiring several sculptures in front of the Senate Palace and the historical building of the Senate Palace for a while, Ye Tian and the others turned around and left, walking towards the entrance of the Capitoline Museum not far away.
Seeing them leave, the several armed policemen guarding in front of the Rome City Hall couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, and their tense nerves finally relaxed a little.
Some people in the Rome city government who received the news and observed Ye Tian and the others through the glass windows secretly let out a sigh of relief!
In a few steps, Ye Tian and the others arrived at the entrance of the museum, lined up to buy tickets, and soon entered the most important museum in Rome and disappeared from the square!