Arch of Constantine

The Arch of Constantine stands between the Colosseum and the Palatine and, at 21 meters high, is the largest of Rome's three surviving triumphal arches. The Senate dedicated it in 315 to celebrate Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge in 312 - the battle that, according to legend, marked his turn to Christianity. Architecturally the arch is a special case: many reliefs and roundels were taken from monuments of Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius and reused, supplemented by friezes carved in the simplified late-antique style of the early fourth century. Generations of art historians have debated this as the stylistic break between classical and medieval imagery. Today the arch is fenced off but visible up close from the Via Triumphalis and the Forum entrance; most visitors combine it with the Colosseum.