The Castel Sant Angelo is one of the most famous and charming buildings of Rome. The castle is built at the place where the Mausoleum of Hadrian had been standing, there is only the planimetry and some rooms left from it. The building was raised in the year 130 AD and had served as an imperial sepulcher.
In the year 271 it was transformed into a fortress by Aurelian. The castle received its name in 590 after the wonderful appearance on its top of the Angel, the forerunner of the cessation of the plaque that was reigning that time.
The castle is also called the Mausoleum of Hadrian. The Saint-Angelo bridge was built in order to unite this majestic monument with the Field of Mars. It consists of three giant central arches and two inclined platforms, supported by three arches from the right bank and two arches from the left bank.
The scheme of the building of the Mausoleum, included into the building of the Saint Angelo Castle in the Middle Ages, remained basically unchanged. The building stands on a giant quadrangular base, the length of the each side of which is 89 metes, and the height – 15 meters. A cylindrical barrel with the height of 21 meter, enclosed with radial walls, is established there. On the top of this barrel a giant land hill, planted with trees, is raised, and marble statues are placed along is edges. On the outside the building is faced with the moonstone (a kind of marble) with the tables, built-in round the wall, on the tables there are mentioned the names and the titles of those, buried inside the Mausoleum. The sepulchral room, placed in the very center of the solid barrel is square with three rectangle bays. In this room there were placed the urns with the ashes of the emperors.
Probably, already in 403 the emperor Honorius included this building in the bastion of Aurelian's defensive wall. Having become a fortress, it was precipitated by the Goths, headed by Vitig. Its transformation into the castle took place in the Xth century.
Today the castle represents an imposing fortress on a square base with two round towers at the corners, bearing the names of the apostles: the Saint Matthew, Saint John, Mark the Evangelist, and Luke the Evangelist.
During the reign of Benedict IX on the base there was established the cylindrical building, repeating the scheme of the Mausoleum of Hadrian building. The further changes introduced to the castle during the reign of the popes Alexander VI and Julius II. During the reign of the last one a loggia was built in the upper side of the castle as the framing of the pope's apartments.
The five-floor interior of a very complicated structure keeps the rooms of different epochs. Among the most interesting constructions are: the spiral stairs, coming down the emperors' sepulcher, the charming Angel's yard with the inventory of ancient ammunition, the armory with numerous and unusual weapon of different periods, the popes' apartments, and at last - the terrace with a wonderful view. Above the terrace the Angel that has given the name to the castle soars. According to the legend, he had brought to Rome the saving deliverance from the the terrible plaque epidemic that was raging during the reign of Pope Gregory I.
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