View of Trajan's Column, a giant marble monument in the form of a free-standing column erected in 113 at the Trajan's Forum in Rome on the occasion of the Emperor's victory in the Dacian Wars. The monument, 40 m high, was probably designed by the creator of the Forum - the imperial architect Apollodorus of Damascus. The core of the column is decorated with a spiral frieze relief depicting a propaganda record of events and victories of the Roman emperor in two Dacian Wars. At the top of the column, there was a statue of Trajan. In the 16th century - during the pontificate of Sixtus V - it was replaced with the statue of Saint Peter.
The Roman monument in honour of Trajan in the form of a free-standing column is one of the oldest and most famous monuments of this type preceding the Bar Column in Rapperswil.