Among the stunning examples of ancient Roman artistry are elaborate mosaics and frescoes, a marble staircase, capitals of colored marble and limestone, and an imperial guards bronze brooch inset with gold and mother-of-pearl. The Nymphaeum Museum of Piazza Vittorio, as it will be known, is the product of an archaeological dig which started in 2006 when a 19 th century apartment complex was demolished. The company also paid for the $3.5 million excavation which began in 2006 and continued until 2015. Archaeologists call it the Domus Aurea of Caligula. Advertising Notice But this spring, Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Cultural Activities and Tourism plans to open the Nymphaeum Museum of Piazza Vittorio, a subterranean gallery that will showcase a section of the imperial garden that was unearthed during an excavation from 2006 to 2015. (Sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash, wrote Roger Ebert.) This is, to hear Serlorenzi tell it, a good thing. Your Privacy Rights The museum will undoubtedly evolve, as large sections of Pompeii are yet to be excavated. The remains of part of the notorious emperor's Horti Lamiani (as it was then called) were excavated from under the rubble of a derelict 19th-century apartment building. A $140 million restoration project launched in 2012 and archaeologists have continued to work during the pandemic. His real education began at 20, when Tiberius summoned him to his island getaway on Capri and, like some kinky Yoda, schooled the young Gaius in the arts of power and perverted pleasures. See also : $22 million retractable floor planned for Romes Colosseum. Within the park in the center of Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II are the ruins of a monumental fountain, the Nymphaeum of Alexander Severus, as well as "the Magic Door." The latter is a small stretch of wall with a doorway framed by two strange figures. The Horti Lamiani were commissioned by Lucius Aelius Lamia, a wealthy senator and consul who bequeathed his property to the emperor, most likely during the reign of his friend Tiberius from A.D. 14 to 37. His luxurious streak, however, is immortalized in the remaining artifacts of his Horti Lamiani garden of delights, a monumental compound of villas, shrines, and a bathhouse encircled by curated, exotic landscapes. The first is a digital assistant which provides service information. During the four years that Caligula occupied the Roman throne, his favorite hideaway was an imperial pleasure garden called Horti Lamiani, the Mar-a-Lago of its day. The dazzling plaster of the Nymphaeum is down to a single tile painted with a little bird. The archaeological evidence in the Horti Lamiani shows that he was a debauched playboy moonlighting as an over-the-top decorator, the prince of glitz of his day. As reported by Suetonius, the Michael Wolff of ancient Rome, he never forgot a slight, slept only a few hours a night and married several times, lastly to a woman named Milonia. There is clearly some bias in the sources, Dr. Dunn allowed. [The New York Times], Turkish historian Filiz aman, an expert on manuscripts and miniature art, has diedat the age of 81. In short time, the sculptures were carted off, the foundation of an apartment building was laid, and the ancient ruins were reburied. Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Cultural Activities and Tourism (MiBACT) plans to open the gardens of the infamous Roman emperor Caligula to the public. Starting this spring, Italy's culture ministry will display those remains in what has been named the Nymphaeum Museum of Piazza Vittorio. But they should open up new vistas on his world, and reveal it to be every bit as paradisiacal as he desired it to be.. A historic drawing imagines sees the young emperor Caligula choosing a gladiator. Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, 1, 00185 Rome Italy. It has 40 foot tall Corinthian granite columns from Egypt, a pediment, and portico. He later stumbled upon a rich deposit of classical sculptures that, at some point in the hortis history, had been deliberately hidden to protect them. Caligula's imperial residence was situated on the Esquiline Hill, then at the edge of the city, now lying beneath the area around the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II . It is a small but evocative section of the sprawling Horti Lamiani, imperial gardens that the Roman emperor Caligula, historys most wild and crazy guy, used for his depraved blowouts during his four-year reign of prurient terror 2,000 years ago. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy). If youre familiar with Rome, youll know that the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele square in the Esquiline/Esquilino district, not far from the big train/bus hub at Termini, has just been reopened after a drawn-out series of works that have lasted for 2 years. Now it returns with a fresh lease of life as a permanent display space for the rich finds of Pompeii, stretching from the Samnite era (4th century BCE) to 79CE. Caligula was known for his extravagant spending, including the construction of a two-mile floating bridge. The pension company that owns the building, Enpam, invested $3.5 million in the archeological dig, which was carried out while a new office building was being constructed above the site. minutes away from our very own Via Mecenate. Beneath a 1950s apartment block, archeologists discovered a luxury Roman villa with intricate mosaic flooding, also now transformed into an underground museum. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Now some of those ruins have been unearthed for good, and the organization owning the property (Enpam, indeed) has decided to turn part of their headquarters into a museum. This is not the first archeological dig to become a subterranean gallery in Rome. Statue of Caligula that is displayed in the "Roman Art from the Louvre" exhibit at the Indianapolis [+] Museum of Art in Indianapolis, Monday, Sept. 24, 2007. ], Caligulas Garden of Delights, Unearthed and Restored, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/science/caligula-archaeology-rome-horti-lamiani.html. The empires most expensive colored marblethe porphyry that gave us imperial purple, giallo antico, beige breccia, white Greekcreated a kaleidoscopic perimeter for the terrace gardens. There have, regrettably, been a lot of them. Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Cultural Activities and Tourism plans to open the subterranean gallery, dubbed the Nymphaeum Museum of Piazza Vittorio, this spring. Exploratory core drilling for a new headquarters and a six-level underground garage brought forth a wealth of first-century relics, from the type of window glass described by Philo to lead pipes stamped with the name of Claudius, Caligulas uncle and successor. I doubt these new discoveries will do much to rehabilitate his character, she says. His sisters brought his body to Horti Lamiani and burned it. | Relics now on view at the new Nymphaeum Museum of Piazza Vittorio. Putting the show together during the pandemic, it became somewhat of a love letter to New York, Gordon said, and a statement that yes there is still so much going, so much of interestnot in the Hamptons or Palm Beach per se, where all the pop-up galleries got so much press, but here in Brooklyn, Queens, from small artist-run spaces to 5,000-square-foot spaces. The exhibition runs through January 30. Italy relies heavily on its tourism industry. The subterranean Nymphaeum Museum of Piazza Vittorio is set to open this spring following a $3.5 million excavation. Last month it was revealed that Pompeiians liked to eat out as archaeologists discovered an ancient fast-food outlet. The ruins tell extraordinary stories, said Mirella Serlorenzi, the ministrys director of excavations, talking to the New York Times. Digging beneath crumbling 19th-century buildings, they found a wealth of jewelry, coins and pottery, as well as seeds from imported Asian plants like citron and apricot plus the bones of peacocks, lions and bears. The walls really were painted in marble, Serlorenzi says. The museum has included two forms of digital media to enhance the visitor experience. Knife handles and other decorative fragments of items from the era of Caligulas rule at the Nymphaeum Musem. Find out all the scheduled events. Heres How To Move To Norway In 2023, The Ultimate Guide To 7 Affordable Easter Getaways With Generator Hostel, The Vast Baja Peninsula Awaits Adventurous Travelers, Washington, D.C. Readies For The National Cherry Blossom Festival, Discover These Top 5 Spring Break Hotel Deals Across Canada, speaking to Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, said to have inherited this extravagant property, fears Caligulas ghost remained to haunt the gardens. But to find Italian historys ultimate animal house, you have to visit the Rome headquarters of the National Insurance and Assistance Body for Doctors and Dentists. Carmen Herrera has been commissioned to contribute a mural. Earlier this month, it announced that the pleasure gardens of the infamous Roman emperor Caligula would open in Rome. The excavation has returned an enormous amount of fragments of pottery and other finds, including marble, painted plaster, bones of domestic animals, lions, fawns and ostriches, oysters, shells. They soon became imperial property and the favorite hideaway of many emperors, including Claudius, Caligula and Severus Alexander, who modified and personalized them. By the fourth century, the gardens had apparently fallen into desuetude, and statuary in the abandoned pavilions was broken into pieces to build the foundations of a series of spas. This story appears in the April 2021 issue of Town & Country. We took a couple more parking spaces, Serlorenzi said as we walked down to a lower level, where archaeologists discovered a staircase from the time of the Caesars. Il MUSEO. He originally bequeathed the property to then-emperor Tiberius; Caligula inherited it when he assumed power in 37 A.D. Serlorenzi tells the Times that the site contains some of classical Romes most remarkable artifacts, including rooms in which marble surfaces were inlaid with carved pieces of different colors. This spring, Italy is planning to inaugurate the newNymphaeum Museum of Piazza Vittorio, which will showcase artifacts associated with theHorti Lamianipleasure garden beloved of the Roman emperorCaligula. Was it because of Roman remains that the renovation went on for so long? The new Nymphaeum Museum in Rome unearths what it was like to party in AD 41, and it's finally open to all after a nine-year excavation. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. His sisters brought his body to Horti Lamiani and burned it. nadia shira cohen The garden had a fountain sanctuary consecrated to the water nymphs. [The Atlanta Journal-Constitution], The Smithsonian is partnering with PBSto publish educational programs online. A theatrical mask in marble dust, recovered from the Horti Lamiani, the pleasure garden of the Roman emperor Caligula. Gardens animated by terraces connected by stairs, exotic gardens, pavilions covered with marble from all over the Mediterranean and brightly colored paintings. The floor will expand the appeal and reach of the UNESCO World Heritage site. 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