Curia Julia

Curia Julia

Computer generated image of the Curia
Curia Julia Shown within Augustan Rome
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Location	Regio VIII Forum Romanum [1]
Coordinates	41°53′35″N 12°29′7″E / 41.89306°N 12.48528°E / 41.89306; 12.48528
Type	Curia
History
Builder	Julius Caesar
Founded	44–29 BC

The Curia Julia (Latin: Curia Iulia) is the third named curia, or senate house, in the ancient city of Rome. It was built in 44 BC, when Julius Caesar replaced Faustus Cornelius Sulla's reconstructed Curia Cornelia, which itself had replaced the Curia Hostilia. Caesar did so to redesign both spaces within the Comitium and the Roman Forum. The alterations within the Comitium reduced the prominence of the Senate and cleared the original space. The work, however, was interrupted by Caesar's assassination at the Curia of Pompey of the Theatre of Pompey, where the Senate had been meeting temporarily while the work was completed. The project was eventually finished by Caesar's successor, Augustus Caesar, in 29 BC.^[1]

The Curia Julia is one of a handful of Roman structures that survive mostly intact. This is due to its conversion into the basilica of Sant'Adriano al Foro in the 7th century and several later restorations. However, the roof, the upper elevations of the side walls and the rear façade are modern and date from the remodeling of the deconsecrated church, in the 1930s.