Weekly Photo Challenge: Forward from Rome

This week’s photo challenge requests that you share a picture that says FORWARD to you.

Last week I had the opportunity to go to Rome for a work meeting. For some reason, Rome was never on my top list of cities to visit but as I was driven from the airport to the hotel I could hardly close my mouth. I was in awe of all the ancient buildings and ruins that seat side by side with the living city.

Although my must see monument was the Colosseum, the structure that I fell in love with was the Trajan Market.  To me this construction symbolized forward thinking.  As I faced it, I thought that the architecture of this building, over two thousand years old, is in no way inferior to the buildings we work and shop in today.

Trajan’s Market (Latin: Mercatus Traiani, Italian: Mercati di Traiano)

According to various sources, Trajan’s Market had shops, a warehouse, offices, two public halls, a library, etc. Some background information about the market can be found here – a view on cities, wikipedia, history.com.

Standing in front of the building it is easy to imagine Roman citizens going about their day to day business.  People going in and out, rushing through the corridors or stopping to chat with friends.