St Angel's Castle know in Italian as Catel Sant'Angelo is a mausoleum which was
completed after the death of Hadrian (138 A. D.), in
139 A. D., by Antoninus Pius: immediately after his
death Hadrian was buried in another place at Pozzuoli
(near Naples). The edifice had a base in brick with
a side of 89 mt and 15 mt high, which supported the
tomb, a circular structure 64mt in diameter and 21mt
high. The exterior was completely covered by veneer
marble. Today's entrance which substitutes the original
one is about 3mt higher. From there a square room (vestibulum)
with a niche which contained the huge statue of Hadrian.
To the right of this room begins a shallow spiral ramp
which links the building 's levels leading first to
Hadrian's funerary chamber 10mt higher than the vestibulum.
Much of this is in a fine state of preservation and
includes patches of its original black and white mosaic
decoration. The mausoleum was used as the resting place
of emperors until the death of Settimio Severo at the
beginning of the 3rd century. On top of the drum was
a soil tumulus and crowning this was a gilded chariot
driven by a vast statue of Hadrian.
In the V century the mausoleum was
incorporated by Honorius into the Aurelian Walls. Since
then the mausoleum took the name of Castellum (castle).
In 537 A.D. during the invasions of the Goths led by
Vitige it became one of the strongest fortress and even
the many statues which decorated the monument were used
as weapons against the enemy! Around the 10th century
it was transformed into a castle and residence: fortified
by Crescenzio, member of the family of Alberico, it
took the name of castrum Crescentii. Teodorico transformed
it into a prison (Carceres Theodorici) and it kept this
function even under the papal and then the Italian government,
until 1901. The statue of the angel, after which the
castle is named was put on the top of it after a vision
by pope Gregory the Great, who whilst leading a procession
through Rome to pray for the end of a plague saw an
angel sheating a sword, an act thought to symbolize
the end of the pestilence. Beside the statue of the
angel is the Bell of the Misericordia (mercy), which
announced the capital executions. The bronze statue
of the angel crowning the battlements today was made
by Pietro van Verschaffelt: it is the sixth of a series.
The first in wood was substituted by consumption, the
second one in marble fell down and broke into pieces,
the fourth, in bronze, was melted for the cannons used
in 1527, during the sack of Rome, the fifth, in marble
with wooden wings, is today housed in the courtyard
of the balls (so named after the cannonballs of different
sizes here on display). The sixth one was painted by
the French army with the colours of France during the
invasion in 1798. In the Capitoline Museums is also
on display a stone upon which it is possible to see
the foot print of the Angel when he stopped to announce
the end of the plague. In 1277 the castle was linked
with the Vatican by way of a covered passage known as
the "passetto". Today the castle houses a
museum and its rooms are splendidly decorated.
There are many hotels and guest houses near the Castel Sant Angelo including the Atlante Star hotel by Vatican hotel, a luxury guest house in piazza navona - Navona Gallery Suites Rome and the Hotel Columbus right in front of Saint Peter's church only 5 minutes walk away from Castel St Angelo. |
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