Majestic marble sculptures, vivid plaster frescoes, bronze artifacts and glass vessels chronicle life at the height of the Roman Empire in this ticketed exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Ancient Splendor: Roman Art in the Time of Trajan speaks to the enduring power of art as a political and social tool, showcasing how Emperor Trajan invested in art and architecture to shape civic life in the ancient world. The second of the “Five Good Emperors” of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty, Trajan was known for granting citizenship – and the rights that came with it – to people from the far-reaching provinces that his forces conquered, expanding and fundamentally changing the concept of what it meant to be Roman.

The 2026 exhibition brings unprecedented loans – most of which have never left Italy – to the U.S. from the renowned antiquities collections of the Vatican, the National Roman Museum and the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.