Castel Sant’ Angelo/Hadrian’s Mausoleum

The Castel Sant’ Angelo in Rome, Italy, was founded and designed by the roman

emperor, Hadrian. The construction began in 135AD and took four years to complete.

Unfortunately, Hadrian did not get to see his completed mausoleum as he died one year before

the completion.

Hadrian wanted to produce a Greek style based temple while using tall Roman orders.

The finished temple must have been similar in scale and overall effect to the Olympienon at

Athens (Greece) which Hadrian also built. The details of the temple are important and

interesting because the style of the ornament and the fact that Proconnesian marbles were used

suggests that an Asiatic architect was also involved in this building. The entablature does not

survive in its entirety, although Canina reconstructed it from fragments that he says still survived

in his day. His drawings show a two-stepped architrave capped by an astragal, ovolo and

cavetto. A plain frieze with consoles supports a cornice with corona and sima separated by an

ovolo. The sima has an arrangement of plamettes and lions’ heads. The marble entablature of

the square base has details which are the hallmark of Pergamene architects. The solidity of its

construction is attested by the fact that it served as the chief place of refuge for the medieval

popes.

The Mausoleum became the resting place for Emperor Hadrian’s remains, as well as

many other of his successors. The last to be buried was Emperor Caracalla in 217AD

(Sobocinski, 2005, p.57). However, as one can see today, the Castel Sant'Angelo neither

consists of only a cylindrical body, nor does it have a chariot statue at the top, the fact that the

building has served several purpose throughout its history, which led to several expansions of

the building. The changes firstly occurred, during the decline of the Roman Empire, when the

mausoleum was turned into a fortress. In the early 5th century, the fortress could not stop the

barbaric invasions of Rome. Up until the Middle Ages, Castel Sant’Angelo was owned by

various Roman families until the Papal state acquired the fortress in 1377. Castel Sant’Angelo

which is strategically located at the northern entrance to Rome, close to the Vatican City and the

Tiber River, made the Vatican see the great potential in the fortress. It didn’t take long for Pope

Nicolas the 3rd to convert it into a proper castle, connecting the castle to St Peter’s Basilica with

an elevated passage, located at the west side, known as Passetto di Borgo (“Castel

Sant’Angelo , Rome” , n.d.).

The fortified passage is located on top of the wall-like structure leading to Vatican City

which allow quick and secure passage between the two buildings, in case of an emergency.

Besides using this structure as a castle, the Papal state also used it as a prison where many

noted Italians have been arrested. In the small inner square, several executions took place and

the mutilated bodies were displayed on the bridge in front of the castle. In the fourth century

A.D., Castel Sant’ Angelo was transformed into a fort and later during the Middle Ages, it

became the cornerstone of the Vatican’s defense system as well as the prison. Later changes

happened until the castle assumed its present name during the Renaissance when the original

ornamentation and marble were removed (Gabucci , 2002 , p. 57).

The mausoleum was composed of a cubic base 12m high, with a decorative frieze with

heads of cattle and corner pilasters. At the corners of the base there rose up groups of bronze

statues of men and horses. In the frieze overlooking the river you could read the names of the

emperors buried inside. On this particular side was the arched entry titled Hadrian, the access

corridor was entirely covered with antique yellow marble. Above the base cube lay a drum of

granite, travertine and concrete covered with fluted pilasters. Above a second drum topped with

a mound of earth lined with cypress trees and surrounded by marble statues of which only a few

fragments remain. The base was measured at about 85m to the side, while the drum had a

diameter of 64m. The height of the statue was 21m. The chamber square inside, is entirely

covered with polychrome marble and is below other rooms, perhaps the sepulchral cells, until

the last, which was the base for the statue that dominated the entire building. The exterior of the

cylindrical drum was surrounded by marble columns (“Mausoleum of Hadrian – CASTEL S.

ANGELO”, n.d.).