Castel Sant'Angelo
The Egyptian Pharaohs knew it was a risk. Many times when they caused a tomb to be built for their future exits from the earthly world, it just happened to hasten their ends. Such was the case when Emperor Hadrian (he erected a famous wall in the north of England in his day) had Castel Sant’Angelo built as a mausoleum for him and his family. Construction started in 123 AD and ended in 139, but Hadrian died in July of 138 at age 62 of heart failure; he is, at least as he had it planned, buried there near the Tiber River.
Situated in the Parco Adiano area of Rome, Hadrian’s Mausoleum, or Castel Sant’Angelo, is a sturdy, rounded, thick fortress of a building (either to keep ghosts in, or grave looters out), and has since served various purposes thanks to its strength. During a war-torn period in 1722, the popes of Rome used it as a fortress, with Pope Nicholas II building a passageway between the Castel and the Apostolic Palace within the Vatican; or that time period, it was officially part of the Vatican. In time, it morphed into a prison and execution grounds.
Today, Castel Sant’Angelo is a museum, and remains the final resting place of Hadrian. It’s various floors house antiquities, painting and sculpture, household displays from early Roman times, and (in keeping with its days as a castle keep) military weapons and war memorabilia. It’s a fascinating place, but retains an aura of sadness and gloom about it, and in a sense, feels a bit like the Tower of London.
