Castel Sant'Angelo (pronounced[kaˈstɛlsanˈtandʒelo] Italian for 'Castle of the Holy Angel'), also known asMausoleum of Hadrian (Italian:Mausoleo di Adriano), is a toweringrotunda (cylindrical building) inParco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by theRoman EmperorHadrian as amausoleum for himself and his family. The popes later used the building as a fortress and castle, and it is now a museum. The structure was once the tallest building in Rome.
The tomb of the Roman emperorHadrian, also calledHadrian's mole,[1] was erected on theright bank (or northern edge) of theTiber, between 134 and 139 AD.[2] Originally the mausoleum was a decorated cylinder, with a garden top and goldenquadriga. Hadrian's ashes were placed here a year after his death inBaiae in 138, together with those of his wifeSabina, and his first adopted son,Lucius Aelius, who died in 138. Following this, the remains of succeeding emperors were also put here, the last recorded deposition beingCaracalla in 217. The urns containing these ashes were probably placed in what is now known as the Treasury Room, deep within the building. Hadrian also built thePons Aelius facing straight onto the mausoleum – it still provides a scenic approach from the center of Rome and the left bank of the Tiber, and is renowned for theBaroque additions of statues of angels holding aloft instruments of thePassion of Christ.[3]
Much of the tomb contents and decorations have been lost since the building's conversion to a militaryfortress in 401 and its subsequent inclusion in theAurelian Walls byFlavius Honorius Augustus. The urns and ashes were scattered byVisigoth looters duringAlaric'ssacking of Rome in 410, and the original decorative bronze and stone statuary were thrown down upon the attackingGoths when they besieged Rome in 537, as recounted byProcopius. An unusual survivor, however, is the capstone of a funerary urn (probably that of Hadrian), which made its way toSaint Peter's Basilica, covered the tomb ofOtto II and later was incorporated into a massiveRenaissancebaptistery.[4] The use ofspolia from the tomb in the post-Roman period was noted in the 16th century –Giorgio Vasari writes:
...in order to build churches for the use of the Christians, not only were the most honoured temples of the idols [pagan Roman gods] destroyed, but in order to ennoble and decorate Saint Peter's with more ornaments than it then possessed, they took away the stone columns from the tomb of Hadrian, now the castle of Sant'Angelo, as well as many other things which we now see in ruins.[5]
Legend holds that theArchangel Michael appeared atop the mausoleum, sheathing his sword as a sign of the end of the plague of 590, thus lending the castle its present name. A less charitable yet more apt elaboration of the legend, given the militant disposition of this archangel, was heard by the 15th-century traveler who saw an angel statue on the castle roof. He recounts that during a prolonged season of the plague,Pope Gregory I heard that the populace, even Christians, had begun revering a pagan idol at the church ofSanta Agata in Suburra. A vision urged the pope to lead a procession to the church. Upon arriving, the idol miraculously fell apart with a clap of thunder. Returning to St Peter's by theAelian Bridge, the pope had another vision of an angel atop the castle, wiping the blood from his sword on his mantle, and then sheathing it. While the pope interpreted this as a sign that God was appeased, this did not prevent Gregory from destroying more sites of pagan worship in Rome.[6]
Leo X built a chapel with aMadonna byRaffaello da Montelupo. In 1536, Montelupo also created a marble statue ofSaint Michael holding his sword after the 590 plague (as describedabove) to surmount the Castel.[8] LaterPaul III built a rich apartment, to ensure that in any future siege the pope had an appropriate place to stay.[citation needed]
Montelupo's statue was replaced by a bronze statue of the same subject, executed by the Flemish sculptorPeter Anton von Verschaffelt, in 1753. Verschaffelt's is still in place and Montelupo's can be seen in an open court in the interior of the Castle.[citation needed]
ThePapal State also used Sant'Angelo as a prison;Giordano Bruno, for example, was imprisoned there for six years. Other prisoners were the sculptor and goldsmithBenvenuto Cellini and the magician and charlatanCagliostro. Executions were performed in the small inner courtyard. As a prison, it was also the setting for the third act ofGiacomo Puccini's 1900 operaTosca; the eponymous heroine leaps to her death from the Castel's ramparts.[9]
During earlier times, the prison had another remarkable function.Cornelis de Bruijn mentioned that whenPope Clement X died in 1676, all prisoners with heavy sentences were transported to St. Angelo. Then, as soon as the papal seat became vacant, the local city council would release all prisoners from Rome's prisons except those that were locked in St. Angelo. This chain of events was, according to Cornelis, a custom every time thepope died.[10]
When visiting the castel in 1676Cornelis de Bruijn mentioned the fireworks that were apparently on display once a year. He wrote:
"Another fireworks display, remarkable to behold, is the customary yearly celebration onSt. Peter's Day at the castle of St. Angelo. It appears as if coming from above the castle, igniting simultaneously and spreading through the crowd of the fireworks in such a way that, when standing near the castle, it feels as though the heavens themselves are opening up. Being about half an hour away from there, one can still observe it quite clearly. Having spent more than a year in Rome, I was curious to observe it from multiple locations, but found the location near the castle, where one stands beneath the fireworks, to be the most delightful."[10]
Decommissioned in 1901, the castle is now a museum: theMuseo Nazionale di Castel Sant'Angelo. It received 1,234,443 visitors in 2016.[11]There is an ongoing project to connect Castel sant'Angelo to the St. Peter's Basilica via a fully pedestrian path, by creating an underground tunnel under the Piazza Pia Place.[12]
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