Temple of Augustus Tickets & Tours

The temple was part of a traid consisting of three temples. The Temple of Augustus stood at the left side of the central temple, and the similar temple of the goddess Diana stood on the other side of the main temple. Although the larger central temple has not survived, the whole back side of the Temple of Diana is still clearly visible due to its incorporation into the Communal Palace, built in 1296. If still in use by the 4th-century, the temple would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire. Under Byzantine rule, the temple was converted into a church, accounting for its survival to modern times, and was later used as a granary. In the 16th century, Andrea Palladio included the description of the temple in his I quattro libri dell'architettura, a highly influential book on the principles of Classical architecture. By the late 19th century, the temple stood at the corner of the marketplace of Pula and was partly concealed by houses, "so that the visitor cannot obtain a view till he is close to it." It was struck by a bomb during an Allied air raid in 1944, almost totally destroying it, but was reconstructed in 1947. It is today used as a lapidarium to display items of Roman sculpture.