Rome has reopened the booking system for the Mausoleum of Augustus, the tomb of Rome's first emperor and the largest circular funerary monument of the ancient world, which reopened to the public this spring after 14 years.
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The Mausoleum of Augustus is a large tomb built by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 28 BC on the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy. The grounds cover an area equivalent to a few city blocks nestled between the church of San Carlo al Corso and the Museum of the Ara Pacis. The mausoleum has been restored and reopened to the public in March 2021, after fourteen years of closure.
By the end of the 10th century, the mausoleum had become largely buried under earth and overgrown with trees, to the point where it was referred to as the Mons Augustus. A legend of the time referred to a supposed decree by Augustus who ordered that a basketful of earth from every province of the empire was to be thrown upon his tomb, so that he could rest on the soil of the whole world over which he ruled.
In the late 18th and early 19th century, the structure was used as a bull-fighting ring. In the early 20th century, the interior of the Mausoleum was used as a concert hall called the Augusteo, until Benito Mussolini ordered it closed in the 1930s and restored it to the status of an archaeological site.
The restoration of the Mausoleum of Augustus to a place of prominence featured in Mussolini's ambitious reordering of the city of Rome which strove to connect the aspirations of Italian Fascism with the former glories of the Roman Empire. Mussolini viewed himself especially connected to the achievements of Augustus, seeing himself as a 'reborn Augustus' ready to usher in a new age of Italian dominance.
In January 2017, Italian authorities announced that due to a €6 million grant from Telecom Italia the Mausoleum of Augustus would receive a comprehensive restoration that will allow it to open to the public for the first time since the 1970s. The restructuring works at the 2,049-year-old brick and travertine site included stabilising walls and ceilings and adding new stairs and suspended walkways.
Tickets to visit the recently-restored site can now be booked from 1 July until 30 September.
Where: The mausoleum is located on the Piazza Augusto Imperatore, near the corner with Via di Ripetta as it runs along the Tiber.
Tickets: Full ticket € 4.00; € 3.00 reduced + € 1.00 presale; until 31 December 2021 free for all citizens residing in the territory of Roma Capitale and in the metropolitan city area.
Duration: Approximately 50 minutes
Admission is limited every hour (max 10 people at a time). Admissions are every 30 minutes: individual citizens at full hour, groups with their own guide at half hour. ■