Palaestra
PSY/OPS Type Foundry · Lars Bergquist
A display face by Lars Bergquist drawn from informal painted Roman wall lettering of the early centuries AD, with progressively modernised lowercase forms and an oblique companion.
About
Palaestra sits in a trilogy alongside Praetorian and Proconsular, all sharing the same cap forms rooted in ancient Roman painted inscriptions. Where Praetorian remains closest to the originals and Proconsular moves toward uncial writing, Palaestra takes the furthest step toward convention, introducing a roman-style lowercase and an oblique version. The character set includes Western and Eastern European characters, ligatures and alternates.
Classification
Inspired by informal painted Roman wall writing of the first centuries AD, Palaestra is a historically derived display face with progressively modernised lowercase letterforms, placing it firmly in the display category with epigraphic roots.