Temple of Hadrian

The Hadrianeum is the monumental survival of a Roman temple on Piazza di Pietra in central Rome, a short walk from the Pantheon. Antoninus Pius dedicated it in 145 AD to his deified predecessor and adoptive father, the emperor Hadrian; what remains is one entire flank of eleven fluted Corinthian columns, embedded into the outer wall of the Baroque Palazzo della Borsa. From the seventeenth into the twentieth century the rebuilt cella served as the Rome stock exchange and customs office, and the ancient marble pokes visibly through the later masonry. Today the Rome Chamber of Commerce uses the interior for exhibitions and conferences, while the eleven columns can be circled freely on the piazza.