The Ancient Rome Exhibition
Explore the Empire that Shaped the World

The Docklands Waterfront City Pavilion in Melbourne is currently hosting a very special exhibition that will take you back 2000 years to the world of the Ancient Romans.

As soon as you step into the exhibition, it's almost like you are taken back through time as you witness some amazing Roman artefacts from authentic Gladiator armour to replicas of a variety of ancient technologies from catapults to cranes.

The Ancient Rome Exhibition

This exhibition comes from the award-winning Italian Artisans that created The Da Vinci Machines Exhibition and thanks to their dedication and love for history, they have painstakingly recreated some of these ancient artefacts.

As you view these ancient wonders, each of the artefacts on display has a history piece on the item and their use in Roman times. The information is also presented in bite-size chunks that doesn't overwhelm you with too much reading and allows you to concentrate on the items themselves with just enough information.

The Gladiators

However apart from seeing these amazing replicas like Vitruvian Crane, the highlight of the exhibition was the interactivity of some of the items. Whether it was using an ancient battery ram, the Vitruvian Watermill or playing an ancient Roman board game, the interaction of some of the items really assists in drawing you not only into the exhibition itself but also that of Ancient Rome.

The Military Genius of Rome and a bust of Nero who fiddled while Rome burnt

One of the highlights of this exhibition for me was learning the history behind some of the building techniques of the Roman Empire. For example, one display is a replica of the Calcatorian Crane which was made of wood and was over 10 metres tall. This crane, thanks to a huge circular treadmill allowed Romans to lift stone up to 21 tons in weight. As a result, this allowed the Ancient Romans to build some of the greatest buildings in the world such as the Colosseum.

Replica of the Calcatorian Crane

A scale model of the Colosseum

The world's first calculator, the Abacus

Apart from the various artefacts on display, there's plenty of other information to be found such as the history of various Emperors  such as August and the birth of the modern calendar thanks to Julius Caesar which became known as the Julian Calendar.

Final Thoughts

From the military genius of the Roman Empire such as the military tactic known as the Testudo to the structural impressive roads of the Romans that led them to become one of the greatest and most powerful civilizations of ancient times.  The Ancient Roman Exhibition is definitely an exhibition for the entire family that is like a time machine as you will be taken on a journey at how the Romans shaped the world.

Gladiator and Roman Soldier Armour

The exhibition is open daily until the the 15th of July 2012, including public holidays and up until 8pm on Friday nights. For those that want a more personal experience of the exhibition, Museum Curator and Artisan Thomas Rizzo is available each Friday night to share his knowledge on the Roman empire.

For more information, please visit http://romanexhibition.com.au/