Tag: Domus Aurea

Heavy Rain in Rome Causes Major Damage to Domus Aurea and Trajan’s Baths

Sad news today for Italy: part of the complex archaeological structure surrounding Nero’s ‘Golden House’ in Rome his extravagant palace between 64-68 AD has collapsed following heavy rain.

The Domus Aurea, as it is known, is one of the treasures of the ancient Roman world. Although it has been mainly closed to the public in recent years due to efforts to fend off encroaching damp and decay, it is a unique archaeological site and an important part of Italy’s heritage.

The site is structurally complex and includes important buildings from the reigns of Nero and Trajan. When Nero committed suicide in 68 AD, his imperial residence was largely gutted and precious materials taken for use elsewhere in ancient Rome. Some of the building itself was filled with earth and buried. Today the Domus Aurea lies mainly underneath Colle Oppio, although it originally extended as far as the Palatine and Caelian hills on the other side of the Colosseum.

In 69 AD, Vespasian took power and built the Flavian amphitheatre (i.e., the Colosseum named after the bronze statue of Nero as Colossus Colossus Neronis which stood in the Domus Aurea) which is about 100 metres or so from the entrance to the Domus Aurea. The emperor Trajan came to power in 98 AD and it was during his rule that an elaborate bathing complex was built right on top of Nero’s buried golden palace.

Luciano Marchetti described the situation as one of extreme alarm

The area damaged is about 60 square metres of the ceiling of one of the halls of Trajan’s baths, known as the fifteenth room, according to La Repubblica. The roof fell through at about 10am on Tuesday morning. Pictures of the collapse as seen from the top of Colle Oppio were published on the paper’s website.

Further collapses are possible according to the special commissioner for the site Luciano Marchetti. He described the situation as one of extreme alarm. He said there is an immediate risk of further damage, and to mitigate this they need to begin conservation work straight away for which secure funding is needed. Work done on the site so far has cost EUR 2 million. According to Marchetti, a further EUR 10 million is needed to completely secure and preserve the site.

According to La Repubblica, archaeological excavations were underway at the site but officers at the scene don’t believe that anyone has been trapped or injured. Officials are now working to make the area safe and to prevent further rain from damaging the area that has been exposed.

Race to Preserve Nero’s Golden House

The Domus Aurea, also known as the Golden House, was the emperor Nero‘s grand palace, with more than 150 rooms gilded, frescoed and clad in marble. Spanning an area of eight hectares, it was built over the Oppio, Celio, Palatine and Esquiline hills in Rome in 65 AD, following the great fire that destroyed 10 of the city’s 14 neighbourhoods. When Nero killed himself just three years after its construction, the Domus Aurea was opened as a public park. Some of it was destroyed immediately and the giant lake, known as the Stagnis Neronis, was filled so that the foundations for another grand building could be laid: the Flavian amphitheatre, or Colosseum.

It wasn’t until Trajan took power between 98-117 AD that the Golden House was finally filled with earth and Trajan’s baths built on top. But this destructive act was also the palace’s saving grace. The earth-filled rooms survived intact and untouched between 104 AD until they were rediscovered at the end of the 15th century.

Renaissance artists such as Raffaello and Ghirlandaio visited the underground rooms and made copies of some of the frescoes at that time their sketches, giving rise to the grotesque artistic movement, provide important evidence of the Domus Aurea’s interior as the paintings in many of the rooms have been ruined by water seeping through the walls.

These days the structure is closed (despite brief periods when it has been open to academics and specialists). But Rome’s heritage ministry is hoping to breath a new lease of life into the site. Restoration work, costing more than 3 million Euro, began at the start of June and they hope to reopen the site by 2011. The works will include several projects for protecting the structure from water, including a complete excavation of the area above the Domus Aurea and a drainage system to divert rainwater away from the site. The site referred to today as the Domus Aurea is in fact the first floor of the original palace. The ground floor was stripped of its marble and precious adornments in the years following Nero’s death and the walls were reinforced to provide a sturdier foundation for Trajan‘s baths to be built on top. The second floor of the palace was largely destroyed to make way for the baths.

Photo by Leon Reed.