Domus Aurea

The construction of the Domus aurea or “ house dorée ”

The Domus transitoria having been destroyed by the fire of 64 a. J. - C., the Néron emperor entrusts to two architects, Severus and Celer (Tacite, Annales , XV, 42), the construction of a sumptuous palate which must extend from the mount Palatin with the mount Cælius, left advanced Esquilin. Constituted of vast apartments and rooms of pageantry, the unit includes/understands moreover baths, country houses, Cryptoportique S and gardens where colonnades are drawn up which are reflected in Nymphée S.

Suétone, though it could not have seen it personally because it writes under Hadrian, gives a description rich in superlatives of it:

was made build a house which extended from Palatine to Esquilin, and called it initially Domus Transitoria (the Passage), then a fire having destroyed it, it rebuilt it under the name of Domus aurea ( gilded house ). In his hall one had been able to draw up a colossal statue of Néron, high of 120 feet; the residence was so vast that it contained gantries with three series of columns, long of thousand steps, a water part similar to the sea, surrounded by houses forming like cities, and by addition an extent of countryside where cultures, vineyards, pastures and forests were seen, containing a multitude of pets and savages. In the remainder of the building all was covered with gildings, was raised invaluable stones and of mother-of-pearl. The ceiling of the dining rooms was made mobile and bored shelves of ivory holes so that one could spread on the guests of the flowers or the perfumes. The principal room was round and rotated continuously, alternating day and night like the universe. In the bathrooms the sea waters and those of Albula. ran| Life of the Twelve Césars , Néron, 31

Tacite confirms this description:

the invaluable stones and gold astonished less than the fields, of the ponds and as one sees it in the deserted campaigns, of the forests, there of opened spaces, the prospects| Yearly , XV, 42

For the decoration of the many rooms, Pline Old the mentions the painter of Fresque Fabullus, which associates with talent the chromatism of the frescos with the sumptuous effects of the Stuc gilded ( Natural histories , XXXVI, 111).

An architectural revolution

The construction of the Domus transitoria and the Domus aurea sees the introduction into the Roman world of architectural and artistic innovations remarkable:

multiplication of the rooms in vault and the Coupole S. the room of banquet round with its cupola 13 m in diameter, opened at its top by a Oculus and supported by 8 pillars precedes the architecture of the the Pantheon of Rome;
monumental fountains of interior (Nymphée S) diffusing freshness and of the luminous reflections dancing in the rooms;
mosaic first placed for the first time in the ancient world on vertical walls or vaults, technique which will spread after Néron and remained during centuries;
mural frescos of fantastic inspiration, representing architectures misleads in it the eye, prefiguration of the last styles of painting pompéiens.

The buildings of the Domus aurea reached an unequalled and extraordinary gigantism:
The excavations of the 20th century realized on the slopes of the Oppius made it possible to release a 240 m length monumental whole (length of origin estimated at 370 m), built out of bricks and concrete, comprising nearly 200 parts (approximately 150 were released). The interior vaults reached 10 m height. Curiously, no installation necessary to the dwelling (kitchens, latrines) was located, which lets suppose that this part of the palate leant with the hill was more one decoration or a vast space of representation, that a permanent imperial residence.

The disappearance of the domus aurea or gilded house

Othon, one of the successors of Néron, made vote by the Senate in 69 a credit of 50 million Sesterce S to complete the work of the Domus aurea (Suétone, Vie of the twelve Césars ). But after 69, occupied space was returned to the Roman public and gradually refitted:

Vespasien created in the part is a vast public garden, the Forum of Peace;
the part leant in Cælius was buried under embankments during the construction of the Thermes of Titus and Trajan, on the plate of Cælius;
with the site of the lake, Titus builds a Amphithéâtre, which took the name of Colisée ( Colosseum ), inspired by the colossal statue of Néron, preserved like rules of Hélios and transported under Hadrian near the amphitheater.
with the site of the Hall of the Domus aurea , Hadrian made build vast the Temple of Venus and Rome

Thus embanked, the Domus aurea disappeared with the eyes of the Romans, but involuntarily was protected and put in concerning the following centuries.

The redécouverte of the more known Domus aurea under the name of the gilded house

At the end of the 15th century, a Romain young person fell into a hole on the slopes from Oppius and found himself in a kind of covered cave of surprising paintings. Other young artists explored in their turn these astonishing rooms. The frescos thus discovered inspired a new style of decoration full with imagination, which one baptized “ grotesque ”. The famous artists Domenico Ghirlandaio, Raphaël and Michel-Angel descended in their turn had the revelation of what was the forgotten Antique art. It is thought that Raphaël drew from it part of its inspiration for decoration of famous Loges of the Vatican.

Other famous visitors left their signature there, like the marquis de Sade, Giacomo Casanova and the painter Filippino Lippi. These visits unfortunately made penetrate moisture in the rooms hitherto a41dernier $c-b1, e,10 $c-b26 ce $c-b16 $c-b43, bn,84 protected, and caused a slow process of degradation of the frescos.

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