The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II) or Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland) or "Il Vittoriano" is a monument to honour Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy. It is located in Rome, Italy. It occupies a site between the Piazza Venezia and the Capitoline Hill. The monument was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi in 1895; sculpture for it was parceled out to established sculptors all over Italy. It was inaugurated in 1911 and completed in 1935.

The monument, "chopped with terrible brutality into the immensely complicated fabric of the hill", is built of pure white marble from Botticino, Brescia, and features majestic stairways, tall Corinthian columns, fountains, a huge equestrian sculpture of Victor Emmanuel and two statues of the goddess Victoria riding on quadrigas. The structure is wide and high. If the quadrigae and winged victories are included, the height is to . The base of the structure houses the museum of Italian Reunification.

Unknown soldier

The monument holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame, built under the statue of Italy after World War I following an idea of General Giulio Douhet. The body of the unknown soldier was chosen from amongst 11 unknown remains by Maria Bergamas of Gradisca D' Isonzo whose only child was killed during World War I and whose body was never recovered. The selected unknown was transferred from Aquileia, where the ceremony with Bergamas took place to Rome in late October to early November of 1921.

Controversy

The monument was controversial since its construction destroyed a large area of the Capitoline Hill with a Medieval neighbourhood for its sake. The monument itself is often regarded as pompous and too large. It is clearly visible to most of the city of Rome despite being boxy in general shape and lacking a dome or a tower. The monument is also glaringly white, making it highly conspicuous amidst the generally brownish buildings surrounding it, and its stacked, crowded nature has lended it several derogatory nicknames. Romans sometimes refer to the structure by a variety of irreverent slang expressions, such as "Zuppa Inglese", "the wedding cake", and "the false teeth", while Americans liberating Rome in 1944 labeled it "the typewriter", a nickname also adopted by the locals. Despite all this criticism, the monument still attracts a large number of visitors The opening as a public forum and as a view point over the City core was strongly fostered by the former President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, letting people familiarize with the huge landmark, causing the Vittoriano to gain a new popular, yet not fully critical, reputation.

Media

It was featured in the 2003 movie The Core where it collapses due to being struck by huge bolts of lightning.

Gallery

References

External links

• Maps and aerial photos - Google Maps
• Il Vittoriano - Quirinale, residence of the Head of State