Secrets and Mysteries of Hadrian's Mausoleum E-Book

Elisabetta Magno

• Herausgeber: Youcanprint
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

A vivid historical journey through the tumultuous and bewitching history of Hadrian's Mausoleum - its multifaceted transformations, from a monument of commemoration to impregnable military fort, from luxurious papal residence to infamous prison and museum at last. A captivating travel through its illustrious artistic heritage and advanced architectural technology, that provides an exceptional source of myths, legends and secrets of the most intriguing monument of Rome.

Leseprobe

Contents

Titolo

Diritto d'autore

Table of contents

Introduction

Chapter One – The Origin: From Mausoleum to Fortress

The Roman Mausoleum

The Downfall of the Roman Empire and the Darkness of the Medieval Ages

From Renaissance to The Napoleonic Period

Chapter Two – The Papal Residence

The Sumptuous Papal Chambers

Paul III and Julius II’s Panoramic Galleries

Chapter Three – Castel Sant’Angelo’s Sinister Aspect

A Political Prison and Military Stronghold

Appendix 1

The Secret of Rome’s Everlasting Monumental Heritage

Appendix 2

Castel Sant’Angelo as Theatrical Backdrop and Artistical Inspiration

Bibliography

Guide

Copertina

Table of contents

Start

SECRETS AND MYSTERIESOFHADRIAN’S MAUSOLEUM

To Gabriellawho taught me to love art

BYElisabetta Magno

Title | Secrets and Mysteries of Hadrian's Mausoleum

Author | Elisabetta Magno

ISBN | 9791222784687

© 2025.All rights reserved by the Author

No part of this book may

be reproduced without the

prior permission of the Author.

Youcanprint

Via Marco Biagi 6 - 73100 Lecce

www.youcanprint.it

[email protected]

Made by human

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Chapter One – The Origin: From Mausoleum to Fortress

The Roman Mausoleum

The Downfall of the Roman Empire and the Darkness of the Medieval Ages

From Renaissance to The Napoleonic Period

Chapter Two – The Papal Residence

The Sumptuous Papal Chambers

Paul III and Julius II’s Panoramic Galleries

Chapter Three – Castel Sant’Angelo’s Sinister Aspect

A Political Prison and Military Stronghold

Appendix 1

The Secret of Rome’s Everlasting Monumental Heritage

Appendix 2

Castel Sant’Angelo as Theatrical Backdrop and Artistical Inspiration

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The picture on the cover is under license from MiC - Direzione MuseiNazionali della città di Roma – Castel Sant’Angelo

INTRODUCTION

Hadrian’s Mausoleum, better known as Castel Sant’Angelo, has been acknowledged as one of the most complex buildings and it is almost impossible to describe all its grandeur and beauty.

The massive Castel Sant’ Angelo, or simply Castello, stands as one of Rome’s most easily recognized landmarks overlooking the sinuous river Tiber, like a silent Roman matron of dignified bearing, certainly unconcerned about the slow inexorable marching centuries and passing of time.

Its layered history reveals an architecture that evolved following the paths of historical events and everyday life in Rome. All this gives Castello a particular mysterious allure.

It is important to point out that Castello is not only considered an architectural monument but also a living chronicle of an era long gone, and for this reason, I say it can be considered an “Eternally Living Roman Monument”.

Two factors contribute to making this Monument eternally unique and mysteriously fascinating - its bones (or history) and the chemistry of its layered decorative features. Its bones go back to the Roman Empire when it was initially planned and constructed, continuing to the following ages when the Popes, one by one, reshaped the Mausoleum, adding richly decorated chambers with exquisite architectural elements and decorations recalling and memorializing the glorious historical Roman past.

Like all the famous epics, the story of Castel Sant’Angelo begins in the mists of time, guiding us through centuries and generations of leading powerful figures whose shared achievements and struggles helped create and mold the malleable material of this fascinating eternal monument.

Castello has been many things in its 2000-year-old layered history. Its inhabitants, throughout the centuries, included generations of powerful protagonists, Roman Emperors, soldiers, Popes, rebels, heretics, and its old original Roman masonry central core is thought to be where famous prisoners were held captive, awaiting their final destiny.

The vertical section below shows a very interesting peculiarity.

Notice that we’re not looking at a common modern building with well-defined levels. What we see are several odd staggered levels (mezzanines). This is due to the fact that Castello wasn’t built all together at the same time. The construction underwent adjustments and changes following the needs and special capricious requests from the Popes.

Picture 1 - Vertical section by the author for her Italian collection

In this book, we’ll try to analyze, through the eyes of the author as an artist, all the tumultuous and bewitching historical facts, the illustrious artistic heritage, and advanced architectural technology that provided an exceptional source of mysteries, legends, and secrets that contributed to the evolution of this timeless fascinating and intriguing monument.

CHAPTER ONE – THE ORIGIN: FROMMAUSOLEUM TO FORTRESS

THE ROMAN MAUSOLEUM

Picture 2 - "Ancient Rome", watercolour by the author E.Magno

Emperor Hadrian of the Antonini Dynasty had always felt a strong sense of duty, destiny, and desire to fulfill the long-held ambition to build a funeral monument for his family and left an indelible mark on the city of Rome. Having a funeral “crypt” or burial monument was a common tradition among the rich noble Roman families. Augustus’ Mausoleum, housing the Giulio-Claudio dynasty, is one of the many examples in Ancient Rome.

It all began around 135 AD, when the Roman Senate chose Hadrian as the new Emperor of Rome.

Rome, with its picturesque landscapes and its strategically positioned, countless temples and imperial funerary monuments built by the Emperor’s predecessors, is where Hadrian chose the isolated location known as Hortii Domitiae, located on the undulated outskirts of the city, on the other side of the sinuous banks of the river Tiber.

The Mausoleum was built by Demetrius, who was at the time the chosen architect appointed by the Emperor to create the magnificent monumental burial site, reflecting the architectural style and design inspired by Augustus’ Mausoleum and destined to host, in its funeral site, Hadrian’s successors such as Antonius Pious, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Geta, Caracalla, Lucius Aelius Caesar, Commodus, and their families.

The Mausoleum commissioned by Emperor Hadrian was built using three concentric square base structures with empty compartments divided by masonry walls arranged in a radial pattern. The lower part of the Monument’s exposed masonry/stone walls shows the original structure of the Roman Mausoleum’s cylindrical drum, which was made of concrete, pieces of travertine, tuff, and silica, all arranged in a horizontal position, while its binding compound transformed the structure into a massive monolithic block.

We must note that the powerful combination of creative talent and skillful inventiveness of Roman architects allowed them to experiment with a wide range of technical systems and devise a special plan for the Mausoleum’s foundations, increasing their strength, and tolerance limits of the load of the burial structure by adding well-built, solid pillars, and strong, majestic block walls. An intricate system of pipes allowed water to flow without compromising the solidity of the foundations.

It is interesting to see that the ancient Roman sewage system is still visible in the Mausoleum and proves that Romans found a way to dispose of rainwater and prevent it from infiltrating the building and eventually the main structure.

Why was Roman concrete so special?

If you need to satisfy this technical curiosity, please read Appendix 1.

Convex-shaped marbles fixed with iron and lead elements were arranged around the building. Poignant discoveries have suggested that many of these marbles were stolen in later periods. The Barberini family, in particular, repurposed part of these reclaimed pieces of architectural salvage, that suited and harmoniously fit in the ”modern” classical atmosphere of the time, and used them as embellishments for their own private constructions.

The historian Procopius gave a detailed description of the imposing Mausoleum’s lavish embellishments describing the Parian marble square base of the Monument and the splendid pillared cylindrical drum above the base made of travertine limestone and tufa.

Many ancient civilizations (Greek, Egyptian, etc) found the need to record events, legends, and traditions of everyday life which led to the birth of Historiography as a form of written transmission of the past for the future. Ancient Romans inherited the first forms of Historiography from the Greeks and improved it by adding different styles and layouts for each topic. Annalists, for example, wrote a detailed history chronicling every event from the foundation of Rome up to their time. In many cases, their writings would feature a connubium of historical or antiquarian topics along with naturalistic and encyclopedic style descriptions (Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger)1 and anecdotes. Wars and political achievements were not the only subjects discussed. Many other writings featured scientific topics regarding architecture (Vitruvius’ De Architectura), medicine, astronomy, agriculture, culinary arts, etc.

Towards the end of the Roman Empire Procopius left a remarkable number of accounted facts about Hadrianic buildings.

The Roman Senator and historian Lucius Cassius Dio also explored all of the Mausoleum’s magnificent elements of design. There probably was a huge bronze quadriga, led by Hadrian himself, placed on top of the drum.

Much of the ancient structure and its original elements have been lost over the centuries, and many hypothetical versions of the original structure were reconstructed, taking into consideration the limited literary records and non-existing archeological clues.

Historians established three possible hypotheses regarding the supposed original structure:

In the first case, the Mausoleum included a square base, a cylindrical drum with a soft and slight mound of grass, trees, perennials, etc., and a square structure on top.