Pliny also noted that Famulus always painted while wearing a toga, rather than working clothes, and used scaffolding to reach the high parts of the room. It’s said that the artists and his assistants who worked with him in his studio, visited the Domus Aurea only for a few hours per day, working only when the light was particularly bright. However, remains of this palace’s frescoes can still be seen.Īccording to Pliny the Elder, many of the artworks in the Domus Aurea were the work of Famulus, a fresco-painter. Many of them have faded due to moisture getting into the rooms. Sadly, since their rediscovery in the 15th century, they have not been well protected. One of the elements for which the Nero’s Golden House has become so famous is its frescoes. Work on preserving the Domus Aurea continues.Įven so, it can still be visited to this day, though only on guided tours. Trees causing damage with their roots cannot be removed as it would further damage the ruins the weight of the earth on top of many of the rooms is damaging, with collapses not uncommon (there was one in 2010). In recent years, however, restoration work has been undertaken to protect the Domus Aurea and excavate further portions of the once-grand palace. Plant and tree roots infiltrated the structure, causing irreparable damage to Nero’s Golden House. Vineyards were planted over it in the 18th century a public park was built over it in 1871 (incorporating the ruins of the baths and the palace), which was enlarged by Mussolini. ![]() Sadly, the newly discovered Domus Aurea wasn’t looked after. You can still see graffiti left by some of them tourists such as Casanova and Marquis de Sade left their signatures scratched into the walls. Over the following decades and centuries, various notable figures visited the Domus Aurea. ![]() The style helped to inform work by artists at the time Raphael’s work in the loggias at the Vatican, for example, seem to be directly influenced by the frescoes. The Renaissance, just arriving in Rome at the time from Florence, was super-charged by the discovery of these ancient paintings. This is the fourth style of Imperial Roman painting, which was more complex and detailed than previous styles. These artists included the likes of Raphael and Michelangelo, who studied the paintings and were inspired by this newly discovered antique art. Soon, notable Roman artists at the time paid visits to the grotto, lowered through the hole on wooden planks secured with rope to take a peek at the ancient artwork. This inadvertent discovery of the Domus Aurea was to be hugely influential. Rather than falling into a natural cave, he had fallen into a room painted with human figures. A young Roman, walking around the Esquiline Hill one day, suddenly found himself falling through a hole in the earth. One thousand four hundred years later, however, in the 15th century, it was about to be rediscovered. In the 6th century, after Rome was sacked and invaded, the Oppian Hill was left abandoned and the Domus Aurea, among other buildings, was left for nature to reclaim. Over the years, the rooms of the Domus Aurea themselves were filled with earth and covered, used as foundations for the baths of Emperors Titus and Trajan. The residence, as described by the historian Suetonius, was lavish on a grand scale: “Its courtyard was so large that a 120-foot colossal statue of the emperor stood there.” The Domus Aurea, literally meaning Golden House (hence the name Nero’s Golden House), was even more sumptuous than the first. He’d already started the Domus Transitoria, which linked buildings on the Palatine and properties on the Esquiline with passageways. It wasn’t Nero’s first attempt at building an enormous home for himself. ![]() The story of this ruined palace is intrinsically linked to the Emperor Nero, who commissioned the Domus Aurea – also known as Nero’s Golden House – to be built following the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD.īuilt between 65 and 68 AD on a huge swathe of land between the Palatine and Esquiline Hills, the site took up more than 200 acres (81 hectares). In a city that’s filled with fascinating ancient buildings, the Domus Aurea has the ability to captivate and wow visitors – even without properly existing. ![]()
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