Gezicht op het Forum Romanum in Rome, Italië 1857 - 1865

Altobelli & Molins made this photographic view of the Roman Forum in Rome, Italy, during a time when the city was undergoing immense change. As Rome became the capital of a newly unified Italy, images like these served as both records of the past and symbols of a nation striving to connect with its ancient heritage. The photograph captures the Forum as a landscape of ruins, yet it's also a stage upon which modern Italian identity was being constructed. How does one reconcile the grandeur of the Roman Empire with the realities of 19th-century Italy, marked by social inequalities and regional disparities? This image invites us to consider the complexities of nation-building and the selective ways in which history is remembered and represented.