Alternate names: Curia , Senate House , S. Adriano , St. Hadrian , aula Libertatis , curia Libertatis , sacrarium Libertatis

Built between 44 and 29 BC, the building replaced the Curia Hostilia as the main meeting place of the Roman Senate. This structure was in use until 283 AD, when a fire swept through this part of the Forum. Under Diocletian, the building was rebuilt, probably with much the same orientation and dimensions. The late-antique phase survives fairly well intact since the curia was converted into the church of S. Adriano in the seventh century AD. The church was deconsecrated in the 1930s, and the building was restored to its earlier appearance as the late-antique Curia Iulia. The building was located ambiguously between the Roman Forum and the adjacent Forum of Julius Caesar. It consisted of a great hall, 25.2 meters long x 17.6 meters wide. The roof rose to a height of 31.6 meters. Three great windows on the Forum facade and on on the other three walls provided illumunation. The Forum facade is shown on a coin issued in 28 BC; it had acroterial statues on the roof, including a statue of a winged Victory on the gable; Augustus also put an altar and statue of Victory inside the hall. The hall was entered on the Forum side through a great bronze door; this was removed in the seventeenth century to the Basilica of S. Giovanni in Laterano where it can still be seen. From the side facing the Forum of Julius Caesar, there were two doorways. The interior was revetted in marble, fragments of which survive. The long walls were punctuated with three aedicular niches. At least in its Augustan phase, the long walls were also decorated with two Greek paintings. The floor was made of polychrome opus sectile, the pattern of which was well enough attested to permit a full restoration in the 1930s. The long sides of the hall have three shallow but deep steps on which the senators sat. Modern calculations show that the seating capacity was 600.