Aart Heering
It took a long time, but since March 1, the Mausoleum of Augustus (il Mausoleo di Augusto), the burial chamber of Emperor Augustus and his family, has been open to the public again. After a 14-year restoration, this impressive, but also somewhat gloomy monument is once again a must for visitors to the city center. The square where it is located, Piazza Augusto Imperatore, is also being renovated, but work is still in full swing there.
On March 1, I and 8 other members of the foreign press had a first tour of the Mausoleum of Augustus, which has been restored and opened to the public for the first time after 14 years. From now on a must-see for every Rome traveler.
History of the Mausoleum of Augustus
Construction of the tumulus tomb on the Campo Marzio (Field of Mars), in the heart of the city on the Tiber, began in 28 BC, a year before Augustus (born Gaius Octavius) was inaugurated as the first emperor of Rome. He was only 35 then and would live another 42 years, but he wanted to show the Romans that he would stay in their city even after his death.
Unlike his rival Antonius, whom he had defeated three years earlier, who would have planned to move the capital of the Empire to Alexandria in Egypt, the city of his mistress Cleopatra. As an example he chose the tomb of the Hellenistic potentate Mausoleus, but also that of the Etruscan crypts.
Two Centuries of Imperial Family
The circular Mausoleum had a diameter of 90 meters and was initially 45 meters high. For two centuries all members of the Imperial family were interred here, with the exception of the infamous Emperor Nero and Augustus' daughter Julia, who had fallen out with her father.
When there was no space left in the burial chambers, Emperor Hadrian had a new burial palace built on the other side of the Tiber, the mole adriano, on which the Castel Sant'Angelo would later be built. The monument of Augustus was increasingly dismantled in the later centuries and was given the most diverse functions.
Augustan theater
In late antiquity it became a marble quarry for the churches of the Rome of the Popes. The Colonna noble family made the Mausoleum a fortress, others transformed it into an ornamental garden, amphitheater and buffalo stable. In 1907 the opening of a brand new theatre, the Teatro Augusteo, on top of the still monumental remains.
Emperor Augustus Square
The current appearance of the Mausoleum of Augustus is the work of Mussolini. He had old quarters demolished all over the city to free the remains of ancient Rome, his great example. This includes the Mausoleum, where the theater was demolished in 1936 and adjacent houses demolished to make way for the Piazza Augusto Imperatore and fascist office building.
De Duce would have liked to have used the monument as a final resting place for himself, if history had not turned out differently. As a result, little or nothing was done about it for decades. The Mausoleum, overgrown with weeds, became a popular hangout for street cats, but otherwise it looked rather run-down, while the square didn't get very cozy either. That is why the city council decided in 2005 to thoroughly clean up the grave monument and its immediate surroundings
Opus reticulatum
The operation started two years later, the result of which we saw during a tour for the foreign press on the opening day. It became clear that the Mausoleum, from which almost everything of value has been looted over the centuries, is still more than an empty shell and that you can clearly read its long history from all kinds of details.
About half of what can be seen today, especially the many brick infills, is the result of restorations from the 20s and 30s. But the other half of the walls and vaults are still covered with the original opus reticulatum, the 'network' of pointed square tuff tiles that is characteristic of Roman monuments from the first century BC.
Plates with inscriptions
A marble slab probably commissioned by Augustus himself is dedicated to Marcellus and Octavia, his genes (son-in-law) and sorry (sister). Other plates, dated VIII EF or year 8 of the 'Fascist Era' (1930), recall other emperors.
Steep stairs lead to the upper floors, with rings in the wall that the buffalo were once tethered to. Majestic corridors and arched vaults have been restored. If you look down from the outer ring, you will understand how the central part, whose original superstructure has probably collapsed, could be used as a garden, fodder meadow and amphitheater.
Mussolini Fascista
Some details are much more recent, such as the graffiti painted in the last century, when the Mausoleum was unguarded for years. MF undoubtedly stands for Mussolini Fascista, you can already tell by the typical shape of the M.
VIVA BARTALI is an ode to the mythical cyclist who won the Giro three times and the Tour twice between 1936 and 1948. And of course the classic naked female figure is not missing either. These are also time documents and the restorers have therefore done well not to remove them.
From construction site to pleasant pedestrian area
However, the project is far from complete. The square in front of the monument is still one large construction site, with bulldozers coming and going and towering cranes. The bus station and parking lot that used to make this place so dreary are gone.
Now a few more meters have to be excavated to bring the square back to the same height as it was in Antiquity. The Mausoleum, which has been dug in over the centuries, rises above its surroundings, which have yet to be transformed into a pleasant pedestrian area with lots of greenery.
You wonder whether it would not have been better to wait a little longer with the festive opening. The official explanation is that this also gives visitors the chance to come face to face with the better restoration work, but a more prosaic explanation is also possible. Elections are in Rome in May and Mayor Virginia Raggi has set her sights on reelection.
As a result, people are now working hard all over the city on road improvements and beautification of parks. Naturally, the timely completion of a grand monument that every inhabitant is familiar with also fits within that framework. "Rome looks to the past with an eye to the future," Raggi said at the opening. That certainly applies to her.
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