new
The Mausoleum of Hadrian
usually known as Castel Sant'Angelo
is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano
Rome
Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle
and is now a museum. The Castle was once the tallest building in Rome. The tomb of the Roman emperor Hadrian
also called Hadrian's mole
was erected on the right bank of the Tiber
between 134 and 139 AD. Originally the mausoleum was a decorated cylinder
with a garden top and golden quadriga. Hadrian's ashes were placed here a year after his death in Baiae in 138
together with those of his wife Sabina
and his first adopted son
Lucius Aelius
who also died in 138. Following this
the remains of succeeding emperors were also placed here
the last recorded deposition being Caracalla in 217. The urns containing these ashes were probably placed in what is now known as the Treasury room deep within the building. Hadrian also built the Pons Aelius facing straight onto the mausoleum – it still
and is renowned for the Baroque additions of statues of angels holding aloft elements of the Passion of Christ. Much of the tomb contents and decorations have been lost since the building's conversion to a military fortress in 401 and its subsequent inclu
and the original decorative bronze and stone statuary were thrown down upon the attacking Goths when they besieged Rome in 537
as recounted by Procopius. An unusual survivor
however
is the capstone of a funerary urn (probably that of Hadrian)
which made its way to Saint Peter's Basilica
covered the tomb of Otto II and later was incorporated into a massive Renaissance baptistery. The use of spolia from the tomb in the post-Roman period was noted in the 16th century — Giorgio Vasari writes: ...in order to build churches for the use of
not only were the most honoured temples of the idols [pagan Roman gods] destroyed
but in order to ennoble and decorate Saint Peter's with more ornaments than it then possessed
they took away the stone columns from the tomb of Hadrian
now the castle of Sant'Angelo
as well as many other things which we now see in ruins. Legend holds that the Archangel Michael appeared atop the mausoleum
sheathing his sword as a sign of the end of the plague of 590
thus lending the castle its present name. A less charitable yet more apt elaboration of the legend
given the militant disposition of this archangel
was heard by the 15th-century traveler who saw an angel statue on the castle roof. He recounts that during a prolonged season of the plague
Pope Gregory I heard that the populace
even Christians
had begun revering a pagan idol at the church of Santa Agata in Suburra. A vision urged the pope to lead a procession to the church. Upon arriving
the idol miraculously fell apart with a clap of thunder. Returning to St Peter's by the Aelian Bridge
the pope had another vision of an angel atop the castle
wiping the blood from his sword on his mantle
and then sheathing it. While the pope interpreted this as a sign that God was appeased
this did not prevent Gregory from destroying more sites of pagan worship in Rome. The popes converted the structure into a castle
beginning in the 14th century; Pope Nicholas III connected the castle to St Peter's Basilica by a covered fortified corridor called the Passetto di Borgo. The fortress was the refuge of Pope Clement VII from the siege of Charles V's Landsknechte during th
in which Benvenuto Cellini describes strolling the ramparts and shooting enemy soldiers. Leo X built a chapel with a Madonna by Raffaello da Montelupo. In 1536 Montelupo also created a marble statue of Saint Michael holding his sword after the 590 plague
to ensure that in any future siege the pope had an appropriate place to stay. Montelupo's statue was replaced by a bronze statue of the same subject
executed by the Flemish sculptor Peter Anton von Verschaffelt
in 1753. Verschaffelt's is still in place and Montelupo's can be seen in an open court in the interior of the Castle. The Papal state also used Sant'Angelo as a prison; Giordano Bruno
was imprisoned there for six years. Another prisoner was the sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini. Executions were performed in the small inner courtyard. As a prison| Link to this photo view: |
