Casa Julia

The Casa Julia, originally known as the Saepta Julia, was a monumental colonnaded hall in ancient Rome, located on the Campus Martius between today's Piazza Venezia and Piazza Sant'Ignazio. Julius Caesar planned the imposing marble structure as a covered meeting place for the elections of the comitia centuriata, intended to replace the plain open space used until then. It was not completed until 26 B.C. by Lepidus and Agrippa, who dedicated the hall to the Julians. After elections were abolished, the magnificent building served, among other things, as a venue for gladiatorial combats and games, before it was converted into a market hall following the construction of the Colosseum. Today, the remains of the foundation and base area stand east of the Pantheon, while the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva was built over part of the ancient complex.