Rome (AP) — High above the rooftops in the heart of Rome, restorers on Thursday used laser beams to clean a marble column in the piazza outside the prime minister’s office, removing layers of dust and grime that had covered the Roman monument for decades.
The 47-meter (154-foot) tall column, built between A.D. 180 and 193, features a relief that spirals upward and recounts the battles of one of Rome’s best-known emperors, Marcus Aurelius. During the column’s last restoration, in the 1980s, restorers used tiny brushes to remove the dirt.
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General view of the restauration site of the second-century A.D. Column of Marcus Aurelius in central Rome during a media tour, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Bas-reliefs depicting scenes from a battle are seen on the second-century A.D. Column of Marcus Aurelius in central Rome during a media tour, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
A journalist looks at bas-reliefs on the second-century A.D. Column of Marcus Aurelius in central Rome during a media tour, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Restorer Mariangela Santella uses a short-pulse laser to selectively remove encrustations from the surface of a bas-relief on the second-century A.D. Column of Marcus Aurelius in central Rome, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Luca Del Fra, press officer for Rome's Special Superintendency looks at bas-reliefs depicting scenes from a battle on the second-century A.D. Column of Marcus Aurelius in central Rome during a media tour, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
For a rare, up-close peek at the restoration, a group of journalists tramped up 16 levels of scaffolding — though their numbers progressively diminished as those with fear of heights turned back.
“The laser gives us an excellent result,” said Marta Baumgartner, the director of restoration works. “It works faster and above all allows a great respect for the material — for the marble and for the surface layers.”
Ancient artists did not hold back on the gory details of war. As the relief twists upward, it depicts soldiers dragging women with children off by their hair. Decapitated enemies lie on the ground, horses rear in the heat of battle and war prisoners look terrified with their necks bound together.
In addition to debuting the short-pulse lasers, the group of 18 restorers use chemical wraps, sponges and resin to erase dirt from the smog in the Italian capital and fill holes created by water freezing in cold weather and expanding within. The monument has also suffered from erosion that has erased some of the faces of the engraved figures.
Creating a vertical construction site around a delicate column sculpted two millennia ago was a challenge.
Wide, square scaffolding around it affords the restorers the space needed to work comfortably. They can step back and look at the figures, which get steadily larger up the column — a technique to make them more visible from the ground.
“It was a way of making the person who looked at it read the story,” said Valentin Nitu, a restorer working on the project. “It really drags the viewer in, seeing it phase by phase, scene by scene with the truly wonderful details.”
The 2-million-euro ($2.3-million) restoration is funded by the post-pandemic European recovery fund, and includes a new system to illuminate the column at night. Work began in April and the restoration is expected to finish in June.
General view of the restauration site of the second-century A.D. Column of Marcus Aurelius in central Rome during a media tour, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Bas-reliefs depicting scenes from a battle are seen on the second-century A.D. Column of Marcus Aurelius in central Rome during a media tour, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
A journalist looks at bas-reliefs on the second-century A.D. Column of Marcus Aurelius in central Rome during a media tour, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Restorer Mariangela Santella uses a short-pulse laser to selectively remove encrustations from the surface of a bas-relief on the second-century A.D. Column of Marcus Aurelius in central Rome, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Luca Del Fra, press officer for Rome's Special Superintendency looks at bas-reliefs depicting scenes from a battle on the second-century A.D. Column of Marcus Aurelius in central Rome during a media tour, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Moscow’s troops were advancing across the battlefield in Ukraine, voicing confidence that the Kremlin's military goals would be achieved nearly four years after he ordered troops into the neighboring country.
Speaking at his highly orchestrated year-end news conference, Putin declared that Russian forces have “fully seized strategic initiative” and would make more gains by the year's end.
In the early days of the conflict in 2022, Ukraine's forces managed to thwart an attempt by Russia’s larger, better-equipped army, to capture the capital of Kyiv. But the fighting soon settled into grinding battles, and Moscow's troops have made slow but steady progress over the years. Putin frequently touts this progress — even though it is not the lightning advance many expected.
“Our troops are advancing all across the line of contact, faster in some areas or slower in some others, but the enemy is retreating in all sectors,” Putin said at the annual live news conference, which is combined with a nationwide call-in show that offers Russians across the country the opportunity to ask questions of their leader.
Putin, who has ruled the country for 25 years, has used the event to cement his power and air his views on domestic and global affairs.
This year, observers are watching particularly for Putin’s remarks on Ukraine and the peace plan put forward by U.S. President Donald Trump. Despite an extensive diplomatic push, Washington's efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv.
Putin reaffirmed that Moscow was ready for a peaceful settlement that would address the “root causes” of the conflict, a reference to the Kremlin’s tough conditions for a deal.
Earlier this week, Putin warned that Moscow would seek to extend its gains in Ukraine if Kyiv and its Western allies reject the Kremlin’s demands.
The Russian leader wants all the areas in four key regions captured by his forces, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory. He has also insisted that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow’s forces haven’t captured yet. Kyiv has publicly rejected all these demands.
The Kremlin has also insisted that Ukraine abandon its bid to join the Western NATO military alliance and warned that it wouldn't accept the deployment of any troops from NATO members and would view them as “legitimate target.”
Putin also has repeatedly said that Ukraine must limit the size of its army and give official status to the Russian language — demands he has made from the onset of the conflict.
Asked this week about whether Ukraine could abandon its bid to join NATO, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his "position remains unchanged.”
″The United States don’t see us in NATO, for now," he said. “Politicians change.”
As it faces grinding Russian advances across the front line and relentless attacks on its energy facilities, Ukraine is in on the verge of bankruptcy — and it desperately needs more cash from its Western allies.
On Friday, European Union leaders agreed to provide a massive interest-free loan, but they failed to bridge differences with Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian assets to raise the funds.
The leaders worked deep into night to reassure Belgium, where most of the frozen assets are held, that they would protect it from any retaliation from Moscow if it backed the plan, but as the talks bogged down the leaders eventually opted to borrow the money on capital markets.
Putin commented that using the Russian assets to help Kyiv would have amounted to “robbery,” adding that the move would have spooked investors, “dealing not only an image blow but undermining confidence in the eurozone.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual news conference and call-in show at Gostinny Dvor, in Moscow, on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking during his annual news conference and call-in show at Gostinny Dvor, in Moscow, on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to attend his annual news conference and call-in show at Gostinny Dvor, in Moscow, on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, speaks during his annual news conference and call-in show at Gostinny Dvor, in Moscow, on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking during his annual news conference and call-in show at Gostinny Dvor, in Moscow, on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks at the annual board meeting of the country's Defense Ministry in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
