ROME’S

DOMUS
AUREA
It was one of Rome’s most extravagant palace—the dream home of Nero.
Often despised for his lavish tastes, Nero was nonetheless a great patron
of the arts as documented by this huge complex lost for centuries.

ARTICLE AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY

MARCO MEROLA AND LORENZO COLANTONI

T
HE STORY OF EMPEROR NERO AND HIS DOMUS built. The surrounding neighbourhood of these hills had
Aurea (Latin for Golden House) is one of most a reputation as among the worst in Rome. Nero decided
fascinating of ancient times. Nero was the last to build a domus transitoria right in the valley between
aristocrat to become princeps of the Roman Empire, the two hills, a temporary palace that connected them,
back in a.d. 54, and he was definitely the most redesigning the lake itself and including it in his new,
eclectic, creative and, as some may say, craziest among extremely luxurious villa.
the Roman emperors (see Suetonius, Vita Neronis, 69: However, as grand as his plan was, this was still only
“Qualis artifex pereo,” which translates in English to, “What a temporary solution for him. He had something more
an artist dies in me” said by Nero before dying in a.d. 68). ambitious in mind. His dream was to build an even bigger,
One among his many obsessions was to have a palace grander palace, whose memory would last even after his
commensurate with his rank, surpassing in its beauty, death. The realisation of his idea required him to make
splendour and ostentation all others built in Rome to that some harsh decisions, including razing everything in
time. And thanks to his stubbornness and ruthlessness, the area to the ground. It is suggested that it was to this
he got exactly what he wanted. purpose that he planned the great fire of a.d. 64, for which
When Nero became emperor, the Palatine Hills hosted he blamed the Christians. The fire was frightful and im-
the homes of his predecessors Emperor Tiberius and mense, devastating seven regiones (districts) of the city of
Emperor Augustus, with the latter also building his horti Rome and seriously damaging another three.
(garden) on the nearby Esquiline Hill. A small artificial The event allowed the emperor to dispossess the Velia,
lake nestled in the small valley between the two hills, Oppian and Celio Hill and build his dream house, the Domus
where, half a century later, the Colosseum would be Aurea. This new palace was a major construction, a realm

the octagonal Room, Despite the modest appearance of the modern ruins, the octagon room was the most exquisitely decorated room
in the Domus Aurea at the time of Nero. The five vaults of the smaller rooms would have been painted with relief stucco and frescoes. The
dome of the octagonal rotunda was covered with glass mosaics. Fragments of this glass have been found on the floor of this room.

10 Archaeological Diggings—July /August 2015

11
Inspiring the Renaissance. After the death of Nero in 68 the palace was abandoned and finally Trajan (53-117) demolish the upper floor
completely and used it as a foundation for his spas. The Domus Aurea was rediscovered in the fifteenth century with several Renaissance
artist, such as Pinturicchio or Raphael digging holes through the ceiling to enter the from above, marking the walls with their signature.
Sometimes, they even detached frescos that inspired them from the walls, so other painters would not copy them.

divided into two distinct residences, one for private and during banquets and celebrations, to which lower rank-
one for public use, set amidst marvellous woods, sweet ing Romans were invited. It is well-known that Nero, in
meadows and productive vineyards. These two buildings his delusions of omnipotence, did not escape but rather
did not resemble the usual imperial residences, which desired direct contact with his people, as he liked to feel
were usually broad and welcoming, but rather more like loved and appreciated. The decorations of the domus were
those villas dedicated to rest and relaxation, such as rendered by a talented painter who historians have never
were located on the Lazio and Campania coasts. They been able to identify, except to note that Pliny the Elder
extended in length rather than in breadth, with quite a named him in one of his works. Many of the frescoes
bizarre appearance. adorning the domus walls were likely produced by him,
The domus for public interactions was located on the whoever he was.
Velia Hill, facing the other palace and in front of where Unfortunately, the private residence of Nero has suffered
the Coliseum is now. The visitor entered via an enormous from many outrages along the centuries. A massive fire
vestibulum, a sort of colonnade where, at its centre, stood damaged it in a.d. 104, then only five years later, Emperor
a statue of Nero as the sun god. From this hall it was Trajan decided to demolish the upper floor completely,
possible to access the interior of the public house where, using it as fill, burying the ground floor, upon which he
after traversing several corridors, the visitor would arrive constructed his thermal baths. The ruins of these and the
at the famous coenatio principalis rotunda, a round room Oppian Hill upon which they are situated have concealed
with a dome that rotated, following the stars, something the Domus Aurea for centuries. The site was so completely
like a modern-day planetarium. buried that painters of the Renaissance who entered the
The corridors faced the stagnum (lake), which after a monument thought they were actually entering caves.
reconstruction by the emperor’s architects and engineers, Hence, they named the pictorial style inspired by the
was shaped into an immense rectangular basin. The service Domus Aurea’s decorations as grottesco, literally, “of a cave.”
rooms were located around the lake and were often used The hill and Trajan’s baths are not only guilty of having

12 Archaeological Diggings—July /August 2015

 The Golden Vault room is largest room in the Pentagonal court of the Domus Aurea, so named for Take a computer
the finely detailed decoration of its interior, most notably the ceiling. The walls were originally covered generated tour of
in multicolored marbles, which the Emperor Trajan detached and used for his thermal baths. Now partly the Rome Domus Aurea on
reopened to the public on weekends, this hall faces one of the still-underground parts of the palace. our iPad edition of DIGGINGS.

hidden Nero’s palace for centuries but also of threatening Finally, the palace is threatened by the Oppian Hill Park
its survival. Archaeologists have long been aware of the itself, where the roots of trees planted in 1936 are slowly
fragility of the site, which was forced to close in 2005 breaking into the subterranean walls.
due to persistent water damage in several halls. And they Internally, archaeologists and conservation experts are
were aghast when they witnessed a major collapse in 2010. working on the consolidation of the structures, detaching
Even if no-one was injured and no decoration was lost, the most endangered frescoes and protecting the remainder
the event highlighted the risk brought to the fragile site by with hydrocarbon-derived isolating solutions. The largest
the tonnes of ground, trees, structures and even cars and part of the project is, however, taking place just outside
buses above. Thus the Soprintendenza, the Italian authority the Domus Aurea, through the implementation of the
in charge of restoration works, decided to embark on an Integrated Protection and the Monitoring Systems. These
on-going and ambitious project to ensure the survival of will involve the complete replacement of the ground above
the site with a view to fully open it to the public. the monument with a 70 per cent lighter soil, which will sit
The mission is not easy, however, as there are several above a simple waterproof layer, part of a complex drain-
factors impacting and menacing the Domus Aurea, at- age system that includes monitoring mechanisms. This
tacking the site from below and above. The hill weighs on will guarantee a high level of insulation, simultaneously
excavated structures that were not originally underground maintaining humidity at a precise level. The ambitious
and which no longer have the support of the rubble and project has already been tested in one of the 22 basins
soil fill that has sustained them over the centuries. Further, into which the 4 acres (16,000-m2) Domus Aurea zone has
water seepage has undermined the solidity of the palace been divided. The aim is not only to provide protection
and altered the average humidity within the subterranean to the site but also to redevelop the area, building a park
ruin. This has resulted in its frescoes detaching from reflecting the original Roman outlook to be enjoyed by
the walls, as well as the proliferation of bacteria and contemporary visitors. While the arrangement of the flower
mould which corrode the still well-preserved paintings. beds copies the disposition of the halls and courts of the

Rome’s Domus Aurea 13

Hall of Achilles on Skyros, The central ceiling fresco depicts Achilles with shield and spear in hand, surrounded by the daughters of
Lycomedes’, the ruler of Skyros. In this scene Achilles, who had been in hiding and disguised as a girl, has just revealed his true identity to Odysseus.

14 Archaeological Diggings—July /August 2015

 A B

Domus Aurea below, the plants and the grass deployed

reflect those that ancient Roman visitors would have
had in their own horti.
The main obstacle to the realisation of this four-year
project, not surprisingly, is its cost: completing all seven
stages will require some €31 million ($A43m). Thus, the
Soprintendenza is seeking private money from patrons
and in the age of social media, a crowd-funding campaign
to complement the insufficient public funding.
Nonetheless, the monument is now partly reopened
to the public on weekends. Some 50 halls open to the
public give a good idea of the maze of corridors and
rooms which fascinated such artists as Michelangelo
and Raphael. Even if most of the marbles and gold adorn-
C ments were detached or relocated by Emperor Trajan, the
frescos portraying mythological lovers or intricate floral
A. What first appears as one of the corridors inside the palace was decorations are still breathtaking.
actually its external façade. The structure of some sections of the The magnitude and complexity of the spaces give a
villa has been strongly altered by the foundations of the thermal good impression of how the Domus Aurea would have
baths of Trajan above. looked in its glory: the richly decorated room of the
Golden Vault, the vast cryptoportic (covered corridor) or
B. A restorer working on the walls of the Domus Aurea. Part of the
the Octagonal room where the sun lit up different alcoves
conservation work is done by injecting insulating material between
depending on the time of the day. And all this, within
these and the frescos, to protect them from changes in the hall’s
a silent labyrinth in the midst of chaotic, central Rome.
humidity and temperature.
To the visitor, it is now possible to understand why,
C. One of the halls of the Domus Aurea, still to be restored. Mold is when upon entering his immense, luxurious palace,
dangerous for the conservation of the site, although sometimes the Nero said, “Good, now I can at last begin to live like a
water can form a protective layer over the frescos. human being! u

Rome’s Domus Aurea 15