Castel Sant’Angelo – Hadrian’s Mausoleum

Across the St Angelo Bridge from the bulk of the ancient city of Rome and not far from Vatican City, Castel Sant’Angelo dominates the northern bank of the Tiber River. Construction started on an artificial mound in the 120s for the Emperor Hadrian’s mausoleum. By the time of his death on 10 July 138 AD, the funerary monument was incomplete. The mausoleum was completed by Antoninus Pius in 139 AD. The ashes of the late emperor and his wife Sabina (who had died before Hadrian), as well as those of Aelius Caesar (Hadrian’s first adopted heir) were the first to be interred here. Subsequent emperors, their wives and immediate family also had their ashes deposited here – the last recorded emperor being Caracalla in 217 AD.

During the 3rd century AD, the mausoleum was incorporated into the Tiber fortifications. Various architectural features, prominent today were being added up until the 16th century. Consequently much of what visitors see today from the outside is not ancient at all; the ancient structure is preserved within and at the foot of the circular drum. Throughout the period between the 13th and 16th century, the following structures were added as the purpose of the building changed and developed: the upper half of the circular drum, the palace with its statue of archangel Michael, the four bastions on the corners of the podium, the castles curtain wall, and the ditch and outer triangular fortifications. After also being used as a prison, the building was decommissioned in 1901, and has been used as a museum ever since.