060608


Roma Capitale
Zètema Progetto Cultura
060608 - Discover and buy tourist services, cultural offers and shows in Rome
Typology: Monuments

Address

Address: Via della Domus Aurea, 1
Zone: Rione Monti (Colosseo-S.Giovanni-S.Maria Maggiore) (Roma centro)

Contacts

Telephone: 06 39967700 Coopculture tutti i giorni dalle 10.00 alle 17.00

Opening times

The Domus Aurea is closed from 15 January to 1 March 2024

Every day from 9  to 17,
with entrance from Viale Serapide inside the Colle Oppio.

Monday to Thursday: guided tour of the exhibition L’Amato di Iside. Nerone, la Domus Aurea e l’Egitto
Areas to visit: Octagonal Hall and radial complex, Pentagonal Courtyard, Great Cryptoporticus and adjacent rooms;

Friday to Sunday: guided tour of the exhibition + Domus Aurea Experience (virtual reality installation inside the Hall of the Golden Vault).
Areas to visit: Octagonal Hall and radial complex, Pentagonal Courtyard, Great Cryptoporticus and adjacent rooms, Hall of the Golden Vault.




Information

Accessibility
Accessible site

Modalità di partecipazione: Booking required

Description

After his first residence on the Palatine Hill was destroyed by the big fire that broke out in the year 64 AD, Nero built the Domus Aurea. It was the largest and most sumptuous of the imperial residences extending from the Palatine Hill as far as the Colle Oppio and part of the Caelius Mountain covering about one square mile. It included an artificial lake, gardens, and a wood. The architects were Severus and Celeris,while the paintings were by a certain Fabullus or Famulus. The rooms were finely decorated and enriched by many statues that came from Greece and Asia Minor. The house continued to be inhabited until it was thoroughly destroyed in the year 104 AD by a violent fire. Successively the Thermae Traiani were built on the Domus Aurea after filling in its rooms and plugging its accesses. The building of the Thermae allowed the conservation of some rooms of the Domus Aurea up to our times. Ever since its discovery during the Renaissance, many artists, who put their signatures high up on the walls where they can still be seen today, let themselves down into the caves of the underground rooms of the Domus Aurea to copy the paintings on the vaults by candlelight. The main core of the Domus Aurea consists of two pentagonal courtyards that act as a connection between the western and the eastern sectors. There is a large octagonal room between the courtyards with a pavilion vault that according to Svetonius revolved unceasingly day and night. The walls were decorated up to a certain level with marble slabs now lost, while the upper part and the ceilings were decorated with paintings and stuccoes of mythical figures (Achilles and Scirus, Ulysses and Polyphemus, Hector and Andromache). The rooms are now dark and gloomy (all the openings having been plugged for the construction of the thermae rising above), but originally light was the predominant feature when all the rooms were open on the portico that offered a fine view of the valley with its artificial lake and the gardens that surrounded it.

All'interno di

Culture and leisure › Cultural heritage › Archaeological heritage

See also

Culture and leisure › Cultural heritage › Archaeological heritage
Culture and leisure › Green › Gardens, villas and urban parks
Last checked: 2024-01-30 16:39