By which means, tools, and techniques did the engineers from Antiquity make Rome an extraordinary modern city? For more than twenty years, the ERLIS team and Cireve has led research work on Ancient Rome. These works have inspired “Destination Ancient Rome: the Genius of the Romans”, a documentary offered by France Televisions.

“Plan of Rome”: from the plaster model…

Everything started with the plaster model of Ancient Rome, displayed at the centre of the Maison de la recherche en sciences humaines (House of human science research) located in the Campus 1, Caen. The model was conceived by Norman architect Paul Bigot between 1901 and 1911: this “Plan of Rome” represents all the knowledge available at the time on topography and urbanism of Rome, from the 4th century AC. Paul Bigot handed the project down to one of his students, Henry Bernard, the architect in charge of reconstructing the University of Caen Normandie after World War II.

…to the virtual interactive model

Classified as a French Historical Monument, the 70 m² model was restored and improved at the beginning of the 90s. Indeed, an idea emerged at the time within the research team “Plan of Rome”, nowadays part of the ERLIS team: what if we created a virtual model of Rome in the IV century AD? In addition to the plaster model presenting the state of knowledge at the time it was created, the virtual model would show the architecture of Rome and technologies from Antiquity, with new archaeological, historical, and graphic discoveries. Since 1994, when the plan was first released, the virtual model has been constantly improved with the latest scientific enhancements. This experiment allowed the “Plan of Rome” team to extend, and, in 2006, to create the Cireve to help and support the use of virtual reality in research.

A documentary on French national television

Based on the research work led by the University of Caen Normandie, “Destination Ancien Rome: the Genius of the Romans”, aired on September 19^th, 2024, in the Science grand format program of France 5, a French national television channel.  Within the virtual space, visitors can take a walk on Trajan’s forum, enter the Pantheon to admire its dome, stroll along the streets and the shops, discover automatons, take a bath in the Baths of Caracalla, walk across the Tiber on the Pons Fabricius or even take a place on the Coliseum stands. Romans were great builders: they imagined multiple solutions to rearrange urban space and make easier daily management. What was the secret behind their innovative technologies, considered as way ahead of their time? Thanks to its state-of-the-art equipment, Cireve highlights this lost heritage, but also experiments situations, simulate processes, and tests hypothesis. “Destination Ancien Rome: the Genius of the Romans” comes back to this astounding project of virtual restitution of Ancient Rome, which gives back its magnificence to the eternal city.