Public Art

The Capitoline Wolf with Romulus and Remus is a statue in front of my hometown's City Auditorium. It is very historical for the city of Rome. It represents the mythical tale of two twins, Romulus and Remus, who were the sons of Mars (the God of War). The twins were cast into the river due to the king being overthrown. The twins were rescued by the she-wolf who cared for them until they were found by a herdsman. Originally the statue was presented as a gift to a corporation in Milan, Italy. It was relocated to Rome in 1929. At first the statue was controversial here because the twins are naked and because of the nature of the statue. In 1933, one of the twins was 'kidnapped' from the statue. It is unknown what happened to the lost twin, but it was replaced with the efforts of the Rome Rotary Club and the International Rotary Club. "When Italy declared war on the Allies in 1940, threats to dynamite and destroy the statue became so numerous that the Rome City Commission ordered the statue removed and stored for safety. In 1952 a movement was started by citizens and art lovers to restore the statue, and on September 8, 1952, after an absence of twelve years, the 1,500-pound statue of the Capitoline Wolf was placed on its pedestal in front of City Hall." (romega.us)