Column of Trajan

View looking northwest at the Column of Trajan from the Forum of Trajan and "through" the now destroyed Basilica of Ulpia (Trajan).

The column of Trajan is 125 ft. high and is composed of twenty-nine huge blocks of white marble: 8 for the base, 19 for the column, and 2 for the pedestal on top.  It is now crowned with a statue of Saint Peter—installed in 1588—but it once supported a 16 ft. bronze statue of Trajan.  There is an interior spiral staircase that leads to the top—with 40 narrow windows that "illuminate" the interior.  On the top, there was, and is, a platform upon which about 15 people can stand.