The Cryptoportique — A Roman Forum Beneath the Modern Square
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Transcript
Below the modern square survives part of the Roman forum complex: a vaulted cryptoporticus. Such galleries could support terraces, create level building platforms and provide sheltered circulation or storage.
The important point is that Roman urbanism depended on hidden engineering as much as on visible columns. Foundations, drains, retaining structures and service spaces made monumental centres work.
Reims later built new streets and houses over the ancient city, so the Roman plan survives in fragments rather than as an archaeological park. The cryptoportique lets you occupy two cities at once: the modern square above and the Roman civic infrastructure below.