The Mausoleum of Augustus--You CAN go there, if you can get a ticket

 

What Emperor Augustus's tomb looked like in ancient Rome (image by 3D Warehouse).

Larry Litman at entrance to the Mausoleum

 of Augustus (there's probably a 

smile under that mask).

     One of the astonishing openings in Rome—as Covid continues to haunt the globe—is the Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome’s Piazza Augusto Imperatore. Since World War II, this ancient Roman site--the largest circular tomb of the Roman world, as noted below--has sat, neglected, overrun with weeds, and closed to the public. After fits and starts for the past decade-plus, the Mausoleum was opened to visitors just this Spring (Covid be damned). Our Roman friend and guest blogger, Larry Litman, managed to snag a now-sold-out ticket. Below is his rare first-person account of a visit to this important piece of history (from tomb for Augustus to music hall to proposed tomb for Mussolini – you get the picture).

   Larry Litman wrote eloquently in March 2020 about being in Rome under one of the first lockdowns, and, since we still couldn’t be in Rome for the Christmas holidays, he gave a virtual tour on this blog of the unusual presepi or crèches in Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter’s Square).

    Larry grew up in Southern California (unknowingly, we recently visited his old neighborhood) and lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, before moving to Rome in 2007. In the early 1970s he studied at Loyola University of Chicago's Rome Center, now the John Felice Rome Center on Monte Mario. "That was when I fell in love with the city of Rome," Larry writes, "and then I had the dream of making Rome my home."

 Larry is a retired teacher/librarian from Ambrit International School and is active at St. Paul's Within the Walls (the Episcopal Church on via Nazionale).  He also volunteers at the Non-Catholic Cemetery. He has two adult children and two grandchildren living in New York City.​

 

As one enters the Mausoleum, one can see evidence of many
different construction and rehabilitation efforts
over the centuries, typical of Rome.

The Mausoleum of Augustus (Il Mausoleo di Augusto), constructed in 28 BC, was closed to the public after World War II. In March of this year it was officially reopened to the public after five years of restoration work significantly funded by TIM, the Italian telecommunications company. However, the monument’s opening was cut short by Covid restrictions which closed Italy’s museums and archeological sites. In May the Mausoleum opened again for guided groups of ten visitors at a time. Online reservations were filled almost immediately. We were fortunate to obtain reservations to visit the site on a rainy Wednesday morning at 9:00 a.m.

Our group was met at the entrance by a knowledgeable archeologist who shared the features and history of this monument, the largest circular tomb of the Roman world. After descending a ramp to several meters below the modern street level we stood before the entrance to the tomb. Originally this entry was flanked by two obelisks that now stand in front of the Quirinale Palace and in the Piazza del’Esquilino behind the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore [the prior post on this blog; obelisk photos below]. 

Our guide points out inscriptions praising Emperor Augustus, inside the tomb.

The Mausoleum had a diameter of 87 meters (almost 300 feet) and a height of around 42 meters (about 140 feet). At the center of the mausoleum were a series of chambers which until 217 AD held the urns of the Julio-Claudio emperors (except Nero) and their families. The innermost chamber held the remains of the Emperor Augustus, and the surrounding chambers held the urns with the ashes of the others.

This future performance space is visible looking out from the
upper level to the center of the Mausoleum.

 

 

 

Many monuments in Rome have been used over the centuries for numerous purposes other than the ones they were built for. The Mausoleum of Augustus is no exception. Our archeologist shared some of these as she led us through the various levels and chambers of the site.

-       In the 12th century the Mausoleum became a fortified castle of the Colonna family.

-       In 1241 Pope Gregory IX expelled the Colonna family and destroyed their castle. Urban gardens started growing on the abandoned Mausoleum.

-       During the 16th - 18th centuries there were hanging gardens with a collection of Roman antiquities displayed inside the Mausoleum, then an arena for bullfights, and eventually a stage for plays and circus performances.

-       Between the years 1907 - 1936 the inner part of the structure was converted into a concert hall holding about 3,500 people, with performances by the National Academy of Santa Cecilia.

-       On May 13, 1936, Mussolini ended the concerts and initiated a plan to turn the Mausoleum of Augustus into a tomb for himself. World War II put an end to those plans.

 

The Mausoleum as seen from the street (weeds mostly cleared away).                  

    

The Mausoleum of Augustus then was abandoned until 2007 when studies began to restore and repurpose the ancient site. Today, even as it has been opened to the public, work continues on the Mausoleum’s restoration. A museum, as well as a performance stage, is being developed within the monument. The surrounding area is also being developed as a pedestrian piazza with stairs and ramps to the street level. The Mausoleum of Augustus is now becoming a part of urban life in contemporary Rome, one of the many places in this great city where the past meets the present.

Upward looking views here and below, left.

 Note: The installation of an elevator has not been completed. To tour the Mausoleum a visitor must climb multiple levels of steps.

Larry Litman

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A few items of note: More photos follow here and at the end of this post.

The official website, which includes, in English, "Book Here,"  is here: https://www.mausoleodiaugusto.it/en/booking/

For now the tickets are sold out through June 30. The last two times they were available, they sold out in 24 hours each time. We are not certain when they will next be made available.

The Mausoleum is in the same piazza as the Ara Pacis, which is one of the most visited sites in Rome (pre-Covid, anyway). And Bulgari is planning a 5-star hotel in the piazza, in a large, interesting (to us) Fascist-era building facing the Mausoleum. Note this piazza was one of RST's "Top 40," even with the Mausoleum in disuse and disrepair; we called it "Rome's most abused piazza."

The two displaced obelisks are pictured below in their current locations. We (RST) had no idea they once graced the Mausoleum. The first is the obelisk at the Quirinale, and the second at Piazza del'Esquilino, in back of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Dianne

 

 

RST Top 40: # 17. Richard Meier's Suburban Jubilee Church

In these dog days of summer, we're taking the opportunity to re-post the following piece.  Originally posted in 2010, it is the most popular item we've ever published--some 15,000 page views. 


The Jubilee Church in suburban Rome is perhaps U.S. architect Richard Meier’s finest work. Not easy to get to using public transportation, but well worth the trek for those in Rome a second time, and therefore it hits our Top 40 list at #17. (See more on Meier in the links at the end of this post.)

Dives in Misericordia (“Rich in Mercy” – the church’s religious name, taken from Pope John Paul II’s second encyclical) is set in the Tor Tre Teste working class neighborhood of Rome, as that Pope wanted. And it is one of “50 churches for Rome” commissioned for the church’s Jubilee year (celebrating the 2,000th anniversary of Christ’s birth - jubilee years come every 50 years, but clearly 2,000 was a special one), although it was not completed until 2003. (See also Sartogo and Grenon's Santo Volto Church in Marconi.)

Meier’s church is in essence 3 enormous curved sail forms, a shape unusual for him. The sacred part of the church is marked by the wonderfully organic and curved spaces these sails produce, while in the administrative part Meier returns to more familiar rectangular shapes, that we see, for example, in his Getty Center in Los Angeles.

Modern materials are a hallmark of this church project, including a coated cement that is self-cleaning, which was a delight for the white-obsessed Meier. Meier won the competition for the church over 5 other internationally famous architects, including Frank Gehry, Peter Eisenman and Santiago Calatrava. Meier’s church is a testament to the Vatican’s good judgment, we think. See the New York Times' review of the church's consecrration: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/30/arts/vatican-s-modernist-moment-church-designed-richard-meier-consecrated-rome.html

We’ve also put directions on getting to the church via public transport at the end of this post.

The Vatican and Meier have been criticized for placing this modernist monument in a working class neighborhood, and basically cramming it into a space enclosed on 3 sides by unattractive apartment buildings and shops. But clearly this is what the Pope had in mind – lifting the neighborhood. As Meier recently said in response to questions about controversy over his works in Rome, “in Italy… unlike in [the U.S.]…architecture and politics are so intertwined.”

We think a trip to the Tor Tre Teste neighborhood is enlightening in many ways. You’ll see how ordinary Romans live. You’ll see magnificent architecture soaring in the midst of the commonplace – what could be more representative of Rome? If you walk a few yards from the church, you’ll also be able to amble through a park with a preserved ancient aqueduct – again, very Roman.

Meier’s other building in Rome is the “museum” and display of the 9th century BC Ara Pacis, the Roman altar to peace (“pacis”) - in this case meaning Roman conquest. It was the subject of even more controversy when it opened in 2006 (and there's still controversy - see Bill's post on a tunnel to be built along the Tevere next to the Ara Pacis). The right-wing picketed (we were there to cross the lines); the new right-wing mayor Alemanno called for Meier’s building to be torn down (or moved to the suburbs). Like everything else in Rome, these nutsy ideas, while stoking the culture wars ($24 million! To an American! It’s just a white box! It’s for the elite!), are now little more than vapors in the air. We didn’t put the Ara Pacis on our RST Top 40 list because it belongs on the First Time list – it’s the 3rd most visited site in Rome.

Dianne
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(For more on Meier, see Bill's post on Rome's "Starchitects", Piazzo Augusto Imperatore, where the Ars Pacis is located - which comes in at No. 9 on RST's Top 40, and further afield the Rome/Michael Graves connection..  Generally for architectural comparisons of the highest order in Rome, see our recent post on MAXXI versus MACRO.)

Transportation:
Best option: get a friend to drive you;

second, take a taxi (but it will be very costly);

third - public transport as follows:
In back (on the South side; right as you're facing the terminal) of the main train station in Rome (Stazione Termini) is a commuter train line. You can take Bus 105 or 105L from the front of Termini to this place (3 stops) - or just ask and walk the several blocks back there. Then take the "train" labelled GARDINETT (for Gardinetti) 16 stops - the stop you want is "Tobagi"; the train runs every 5 minutes in normal hours. Walk about 50 yards to the bus stop "Tobagi" and catch Bus 556 (Gardenie) for 12 stops (to Tovaglieri/Ermoli); the 12 stops aren't that long, really just winding through the suburban high rises. The bus runs every 15 minutes. When you get off, you're 100 yards from the church and you should be able to see it or find it by asking for the church.

TO RETURN: Go back to where you got Bus 556 and take it again, going in the same direction you had been to arrive (Gardenie) - not back; take it 11 stops to Togliatti/Molfetta; go to the Tram stop Togliatti (this is a real tram) and take Tram 14 back to Termini.
Caveat: we have not taken public transportation; I'm relying on the City's transportation site for these directions. Don't ask me why the ways to/from are different. If you're a walker, you could walk to/from the Train or to/from the Tram and not have to go to and from different ways. Just a suggestion. Good luck on this!

Francesco Rutelli: on Building atop Rome's Ancient Heritage

Former Rome Mayor Francesco Rutelli was explaining why it was so difficult to build the Metro "C" line, which at one point was designed to run from Piazza Venezia to Piazza del Popolo, under via del Corso.  All the ground beneath that route, he said, to a depth of about 25 meters, was covered with

Oops!  Excavations for "C" line at Piazza Venezia reveal
extensive ancient ruins.  Better cover them up!

ancient ruins.  To avoid destroying the city's heritage, one had to go deeper--below 30 meters.  That could be done, he added, but one problem remained: "you could not get out"--that is, you couldn't get people out of that deeply buried Metro line, or for that matter into it, without doing untold damage. 









Rutelli, Mayor of Rome from 1993 to 2001, one-time cultural minister and now Senator, told several personal stories to underline his thesis at a recent talk at John Cabot University in Rome on "Contemporary Transformations in the Most Complex City in the World."  The interplay of

archaeology with contemporary building seems obvious, but it took on  new meaning for us with Rutelli's detailed and personal knowledge of Rome's archaeological layers. (Rutelli studied architecture at the University of Rome/La Sapienza.) 

Protesters at the opening of Meier's "box" for the Ara Pacis,
April 2006

Piazza Augusto Imperatore, which shows up on Rome the Second Time's Top 40 list at #9, sparked discussion from the audience after Rutelli presented slides of Richard Meier's "box" for the Ara Pacis and the discovery below of an ancient Roman harbor - that prevented putting the Lungotevere road underground  - at least for now.  We hadn't known that Rutelli alone made the decision to engage U.S. architect Richard Meier.  Why not a competition?  Or at least an Italian?  "If I had chosen an Italian," he said,
"the resulting squabbles would have been like those of a Sardinian village, lasting centuries."  As a result of his choice, however, Italian architects (left out of consideration) are irate; one said Meier's building belonged on the outskirts of Los Angeles; another likened it to McDonald's.   The right wing also detests the building.  We were there for the opening and their protests in April, 2006. 

And now a professor of architectural history asks Rutelli - why no interplay with the fascist architecture of the piazza?  With all the fascist writing on the buildings around Augustus' tomb?
Rutelli pointed out one reason he selected Meier was for his "rationalist" style, which naturally harmonized with the monumentalist Fascist architecture of the piazza. 

Parco della Musica, also known as the Auditorium, is Renzo Piano's very successful (in our opinion) set of music halls in the Flaminio quarter.  We also have seen the pre-Roman village partially unearthed during the building of the Parco della Musica structures.  What we didn't know, and Rutelli

Piano's Parco della Musica.  Handsome, but too many
stairs, not enough elevators, some think. 

relayed, was that his administration was absolutely certain there were no ruins in the area - that was one reason the location was selected.  And yet, there they were, the remains of a 2700 year-old rural village that no one had ever mentioned or knew about, according to the former Mayor.  Hence, Piano had to redesign his complex.  A cinema and hotel were left out to accommodate the display of the ruins.  And, added an audience member - is that the reason there are too many steps and not enough elevators?  Ah, said Rutelli, Piano loved his structure and there was considerable negotiation with him over elevators.  In other words, be glad you have the few you do.  He also relayed the story of a building in Pienza, a perfect design by an architect who left out kitchens and bathrooms - so that the architecture would be absolutely perfect. Parco della Musica is on one of the 4 tours in our new book, Modern Rome: 4 Great Walks for the Curious Traveler. See below for more information.

Palazetto Zuccari

Rutelli's practical side showed itself in two other projects.  One began with a 1994 competition to gut
and totally reconstruct the Bibliotheca Hertziana--that is, the interior of the 17th-century Mannerist Palazetto Zuccari (on via Gregoriana, near the Spanish steps).

The new library sits atop this matrix of steel beams.

In 2001, construction revealed the remains of the Horti Luculliani, gardens from the Republican era.  Architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg and engineers found a solution: above the ruins, they suspended
huge steel girders--essentially a floating, artificial basement.  On top of that, they put the new library. 

The new library.  The 17th century?  Gone. 

Rutelli had more to do with the 2nd project: an elevator for the Altare della Patria, also known as the

Rutelli's much-reviled elevator.  Great
views from the top!

Vittoriano.  Indeed, it was his idea.  Frankly acknowledging the criticism he's received for this intervention, Rutelli defended it, emphasizing that the elevator was close to the (back of) the structure, but not part of it, not attached to it.  "It could be removed in a day," he said.

After the talk, at a reception hosted by John Cabot, we gave Rutelli a copy of our book, Rome the Second Time: 15 Itineraries that Don't Go to the Coliseum."   A few minutes later, as we left the building a few steps behind the mayor, he turned, smiled, and said, "non vado al Coliseo" (I'm not going to the Coliseum!).

Dianne and Bill
 Modern Rome: 4 Great Walks for the Curious Traveler.  In addition to the tour of  the 21st-century music and art center of Flaminio (including Parco della Musica), along with Mussolini's Foro Italico, also the site of the 1960 summer Olympics, Modern Rome features three other walks: the "garden city" suburb of Garbatella, the 20th-century suburb of EUR, and a stairways walk in classic Trastevere. 

This 4-walk book is available in all print and eBook formats The eBook is $1.99 through amazon.com and all other eBook sellers.  See the various formats at smashwords.com. 

Modern Rome: 4 Great Walks for the Curious Traveler now is also available in print, at amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, independent bookstores,  and other retailers; retail price $5.99.

Another Bad Idea: a Tunnel at the Ara Pacis

The photo above is of a section of the Lungotevere, the multi-lane street along the Tiber (here, the east bank, going upstream).  The street looks nearly empty here, but that's only because we waited until the traffic had cleared to dash into the street to take the photo.  Just behind us, to the right, a hundred cars and scootes are waiting for the light to change.   The building on the right is Richard Meier's "box" for the Ara Pacis, an ancient treasure.  The box is not popular with many Romans, for understandable, if not universally shared, reasons.  (See Dianne's caveat at the end of this post.)  It cost $25 million, a lot of money for a storage container.  It diminishes the nearby churches.  It clashes with the Mussolini-era buildings that line two sides of the Piazza Augusto Imperatore (see an earlier post where we listed that much-maligned piazza as #9 on our RST Top 40 list - see list at right).  And it sits too close to the Lungotevere.

That last complaint is about to be addressed--by another controversial project.  As we understand it, the authorities are proposing to create a piazza on the Tiber side of the building, right where the traffic now flows--just beyond the people standing in the left of the photo.  This will allow tourists and other visitors to the box to step out into the piazza and enjoy a view of the river below.  Not a bad idea.  But what's to be done with the cars, trucks, and scooters? 

Yes, you guessed it.  They'll be put in a new tunnel.  Tunnels are common on the other side of the Tevere, but not on this side, where there is just one - about where this one would end.  As we conceive it, the tunnel will begin just beyond the intersection from which the photo was taken, descend under the newly contructed piazza, and emerge down the road a piece (actually just off, to the east, of the Lungotevere).  At left, a map of the area, to help keep things straight.  The Ara Pacis is in lavender, near the bottom.

The Passeggiata di Ripetta, view
from the north end of the Ara Pacis

Even now, most of the traffic exits the Lungotevere right after the Ara Pacis, passing down a busy, two-lane brick road that eventually bypasses Piazza del Popolo.  As the traffic descends on this brick road, it streams cheek-by-jowl along the Passeggiata di Ripetta, which carries traffic the other direction (south) and emerges at the Ara Pacis.  On the photo at right, you can see the Passeggiata di Ripetta, as it skirts the Ara Pacis, which is behind the photographer in this view. 

Looking north on the Passeggiata di Ripetta

And left, a long shot down the Passeggiata.  Despite its proximity to a major arterial carrying traffic from the Lungotevere, it remains an attractive street, lined with sycamores.

Protests from apartment dwellers on the Passeggiata
di Ripetta

OK, that's a bit complex.  The key point is that the people who now live on the Passeggiata di Ripetta are upset at the prospect of the new tunnel, and all the construction that will go with it.  They imagine--and they can't be wrong here--all the noise, and all the concrete ugliness that's virtually guaranteed to come with the new structure.  In protest, they put up signs:  NO SOTTO PASSO (No Underpass).  The signs are at the top of the building in the photo at right. 

We're with the neighborhood on this one.  The new piazza would be nice.  But the Tevere's not much to look at, and the project promises to be more than a little disruptive.  The traffic flows fine as it is.  Our advice: save some money, and forget it.  No Sotto Passo. 

Bill

PS from Dianne - I think more positively of Meier's "box" than does Bill.  I was there for its grand opening.  Bill and I have climbed up and around and in it (with the managing architect).  It's a very popular building site in Rome, and houses a museum.  It's among the top 3 visited sites now in Rome, as I recall.