The Temple of Augustus is a well-preserved Roman temple in the center of Pula on the central city square, the Forum. The temple dedicated to the first Roman emperor Augustus was built during the emperor’s lifetime between 2 BC and his death in 14 AD. It stands on a podium with a tetrastyle prostyle portico with Corinthian columns. It was built in the demanding “opus isodomum” technique. The dimensions of the temple are 8 m by 17.3 m. The richly decorated frieze is similar to that of the larger and older temple of Maison Carrée in Nîmes, France.

The temple’s dedication inscription originally consisted of bronze letters affixed to the portico. Today, only the fastening holes remain, and most of the inscriptions have perished over time. However, the inscription consisted of the standard dedication also found on other temples of Augustus, which read:

ROMAE • ET • AUGUSTO • CAESARI • DIVI • F • PATRI • PATRIAE
“To Roma and Augustus Caesar, divine son, father of the homeland”

This shows that the temple was also originally dedicated to the goddess Roma, the personification of the city of Rome. Unlike other temples such as the Temple of Divus Augustus in Rome, the temple was not dedicated to divus (divine) Augustus which was the title given to the emperor after his death. This, along with the architectural style of the temple, allowed archaeologists to date the temple to the late Augustan period before Augustus’ death in AD 14.

Under Byzantine rule, the temple was converted into a church, which allowed it to survive until modern times, when it was converted into a granary. In the early 19th century it housed a museum of stone monuments. During an Allied air raid in 1944, it was hit by a bomb and almost completely destroyed, so it was reconstructed stone by stone in 1947. Today it serves as a lapidary, where ancient Roman stone and bronze sculptures are displayed…