Another marvel through Google maps – the South Arcade of the Quirinal stairway!

After posting my last, I went back and played a bit more with Google maps on the Quirinal hill.  And I found … something marvellous!  Here it is:

This is part of the arcades of the Southern wall of the great stairwell that ran from the vast temple on the Quirinal – of the Sun, according to some, of Serapis according to others – down to the plain.  It’s clearly visible in an old drawing by van Heemskerk:

Southern outer wall, in old pictures

And in this:

Mercati (1629), Aurelian’s temple of the sun in Rome

And here:

But who would have thought to see that sloping arcade now?

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