Castel Sant'Angelo A.K.A. Hadrian's Mausoleum

We started out our second day in Rome by visiting a monument which was first know as the Roman emperor Hadrian's Mausoleum and was later transformed into the Castel Sant'Angelo. It isn't very far away from our dorms, and after about a 20 minute walk we looked up and saw our first glimpse of it through the trees.

After crossing several lanes of crazy Italian traffic we stopped to rest. We all just kind of stared up at this amalgamation of ancient and medieval architecture trying to take it all in.


The piazza in front of the castle is very busy, and like every other big tourist spot it is populated by refreshment stands and cheap souvenir shops. All of the monuments here are woven into the fabric of the modern city.


Before going into the castle our professors led us around to the front of it where the Ponte Sant'Angelo spans the river Tiber.


This bridge was also built by the emperor Hadrian in 134 AD and was originally known as the Pons Aelius. Over the centuries it has been redecorated in various ways, and in 1669 the favorite Vatican artist, Bernini, placed 10 angels on it holding the instruments of the passion. This last remodeling of the bridge is what can still be seen today.


I really liked the angels, but then I love most of Bernini's sculptures. If it looks like a baroque statue and had anything to do with the Vatican, chances are Bernini did it. All of his work is so full of the movement so typical of the Baroque period. I highly recommend you check him out on Wikipedia.


Speaking of the Vatican, we really were very close to it. That's it to the right of my strangely squinty face. The Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica were our second stop for the day, but more on that later. First we had to turn around and head into the castle. On our way through the piazza we saw some bizarre things including:


A very random man dressed as King Tut,


A Roman soldier eating breakfast,


and some policemen on horseback, which I suppose isn't weird but whatever.


We had some trouble actually getting into the castle because the ticket people claimed to have no change at all and refused to give us student discounts because we weren't European students. My professors insist that this rule is crap, and it does seem to vary depending on who's at the ticket booth at any given monument. Anywho, we finally got in an immediately split up to wander the ancient building on our own. The above picture is a model of what the mausoleum looked like in Hadrian's time.


Long before the popes built a castle on top of poor Hadrian's grave and completely changed the way it looked people noticed that this building was important. As a result, most of the artifacts that it once contained were looted and lost. These are some of the few artifacts that still exist today.


I hope you all appreciate those last two pictures because while I was taking them everyone else disappeared and I was left to climb this dark, winding, crypt tunnel all by myself. This tunnel and one small chamber beyond it are all that is left of the original Roman mausoleum that the public has access to.


The rest, as you can see by this carving, was built up by the popes. The popes did both good and bad things, but I must say that I loathe them for their wanton destruction of ancient monuments. Their castles and churches may be pretty, but they're NOT WHAT I'M HERE TO SEE. I'm sure I'll have more to say about all that in subsequent posts.


Like I said though, the parts commissioned by the popes are still pretty. This was the original sculpture of the Archangel Michael that sat on top of the castle during the Renaissance. The one that replaced it and still sits atop the castle was done by Verschaffelt. In case you were wondering why this place is now called Castel Sant'Angelo, it's because in the 6th century the Archangel Michael was supposedly seen sheathing his sword on top of the castle as a sign that a plague which had been ravaging the city was over.


I don't really know what this is a picture of. Really I just took it to show you some more of the renaissance decorations.


Once you reach the upper parts of the castle you can walk around in the papal apartments which have since been converted into a museum for the renaissance artifacts of the building. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures in any of the rooms, and I only managed to snap this picture of the most massive fireplace I've ever seen before I was told to cease and desist. To get an idea of how huge this thing is, the brown on the left of the fireplace is a regular sized door and at least two of them could have fit inside it.


It's not just the popes who have changed the function of this building though. At the very top there was a modern cafe built along the walls.


From there I had a great view of the city and of the renaissance era fortifications complete with cannons.


All along the corridors at the top of the castle were statues of ancient Romans. This particular one is of the emperor Hadrian himself. The guy kissing him is a member of my group named Nathan who thought this picture would be extremely funny. I went along with it smiling silently to myself, choosing to wait until after the picture was taken to inform him that Hadrian actually was gay.


The walls of the corridors were also lined along the ceiling with beautiful renaissance frescoes. Please enjoy the naked woman.


Naked people aside, I absolutely love the intricate detail of the foliage. I also tested my knowledge trying to read the various Latin phrases that were scattered around. This one says "pedibus dans oscula gaudet" which literally says "he rejoices giving kisses to the feet."
Some of the frescoes were faded, or missing pieces, or both, but that just added to my awe at being able to view things that were so old (even if they weren't as old as I would like them to be).


After about and hour and a half of wandering around the castle/mausoleum (which wasn't nearly enough to take it all in) we all met back down at the entrance to get lunch and start heading towards the Vatican. This is my other professor, Dr. Lavigne, instructing some of the other students in my group even as we all make our way back out into the streets of Rome.