Castel S.Angelo Rome, Hadrians Mausoleum Building, Italian Fort Design, Images

Castel Sant’Angelo Roma

Hadrian’s Mausoleum: Historic Roman Fort Building Photographs, Italy

post updated 16 Jan 2021

Hadrian’s Mausoleum Rome

Castel S.Angelo

The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel Sant’Angelo (English: Castle of the Holy Angel), is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy.

Castel Sant’Angelo Roma Architettura:

It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. The Castle was once the tallest building in Rome.

The popes converted the structure into a castle, beginning in the 14th century; Pope Nicholas III connected the castle to St Peter’s Basilica by a covered fortified corridor called the Passetto di Borgo. The fortress was the refuge of Pope Clement VII from the siege of Charles V’s Landsknechte during the Sack of Rome (1527).

Leo X built a chapel with a Madonna by Raffaello da Montelupo. In 1536 Montelupo also created a marble statue of Saint Michael holding his sword after the 590 plague to surmount the Castel. Later Paul III built an apartment, to ensure that in any future siege the pope had a suitable place to stay.

The Papal state also used Sant’Angelo as a prison; Giordano Bruno, for example, was imprisoned there for six years. Other prisoner were the sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini and the magician and charlatan Cagliostro. Executions were performed in the small inner courtyard.

As a prison, it was also the setting for the third act of Giacomo Puccini’s 1900 opera Tosca; the eponymous heroine leaps to her death from the Castel’s ramparts.

Decommissioned in 1901, the castle is now a museum, the Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant’Angelo.

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Location: north of city centre, across the River Tiber, in central Rome, central Italy, southern Europe

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Famous historic buildings close to Hadrian’s Mausoleum include:

To the west is the Vatican and the world’s most powerful building in the Catholic faith:

St Peters Basilica

photograph © Adrian Welch
St Peters Basilica
Tto the south can be found this incredible rotunda structure:

Roman buildings : Traditional architecture

To the East, on the other side of the city centre:

Castel Sant’Angelo images by Adrian Welch available upon request: photos 2816×2112 pixels

Rome Architect

Roman Architecture Photos

Buildings / photos for the Castel Sant’Angelo Rome – Hadrians Mausoleum building page welcome

Website: Visit Rome