Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino inspected the Imperial Fora worksite on Friday where the Temple of Peace is set to get seven restored columns, two of which will be visible to the public by Rome's April 21 birthday celebration.
The columns, made of pink granite from Aswan, Egypt, were restored from fragments recovered during excavations in 1998-2000.
A second phase of the project will see the restoration of a 5-square-metre section of the temple's portico roof, with original tiles that were found intact.
The restoration work will bring to life a part of the Temple of Peace that was visible to Romans in 75 A.D., when the Emperor Vespasian had the Temple built to celebrate the conquest of Jerusalem.
Work is scheduled to take 85 days at a cost of 665,900.84 euros and is being performed by the Blasi construction company under the technical and scientific direction of the Rome Superintendency for Cultural Assets.
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