Monumenta Romana

Monumenta Romana is a new public artwork on the North Downs Way between Canterbury and Dover, commissioned as part of the North Downs Way National Arts Trail. It sits within a clearing on the edge of the Waldershare Estate and opposite the Belvedere, an early 17th century Palladian folly. The Belvedere was never completed and Monumenta Romana re-imagines the cupola that was originally intended to go on its roof.

Monumenta Romana is fabricated from salvaged timber forming an open-framed dome surrounded by an octagonal timber seat. It is both an object of contemplation relating to the site and its history, and a place to sit offering 360-degree views of the surrounding landscape to walkers on the trail. It refers to a history of small wayside chapels, tombs and markers appropriate because it is also on the Via Francigena pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome.