Rome, starting tomorrow the Mausoleum of Augustus reopens. It will be free for everyone for a month

Starting tomorrow, Monday, March 1, 2021, the Mausoleum of Augustus will reopen in Rome: news that has been awaited for fourteen years, such is the length of time the Mausoleum has been closed for the lengthy restoration work that has given it a new face, and which involved an investment of more than 11 million euros. The reopening, until April 21 (the date of Rome’s birthday), will be free for everyone, after which, until December 31, the site will be free for residents of Rome, and chargeable for those from outside. It can be accessed until April 21 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (last entry at 3 p.m.), and from April 22 hours 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. with last entry at 5:30 p.m.

The first phase of the work on the Mausoleum(a detailed discussion of its history can be found at this link), which involved the conservative restoration of the ancient monument with exclusively public funding of about 4 million euros (half provided by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tuism, half by the City of Rome), was completed in 2019. The second phase was financed by a patronage act of about 6 million euros from the TIM Foundation and aimed at the musealization of the monument. The first batch of this second phase has been completed and included the arrangement of several internal concamations and the start of the museum layout that will tell the story of the monument with its various historical phases.

The restoration is not yet finished, but the end of the first batch of the second phase still gives the possibility to reopen the monument, which has been closed to the public since 2007. The second batch of works will involve the landscaping of the greenery on the Mausoleum, the restoration of the burial cell, and the complete setting up of the museum route within the concameras. This route is temporally aligned with the work on the Augustus Emperor Square, which will begin in May 2020 according to the winning design of the 2006 International Competition, won by the group of architect Francesco Cellini, who will therefore sign the new appearance of the square. With the ongoing work on the first lot of the square (completion scheduled for December 2021), the architectural and plant engineering completion of the archaeological plaza, ramps and info point bar service is planned. With the work on the second lot, however, we will see the completion of the second half of the project around the Mausoleum Now that the conditions of time alignment between the two proceedings, of the square and the monument, have been created, it is essential to complete the work on the Mausoleum with the landscaping of the green area on the drum’s interior and the musealization of the concamations.

The project envisions the practicability of the ring by making the outer sector of the Mausoleum open to the public as well. In this case, there would be the definitive integration of the Mausoleum with the urban and environmental context resulting from the arrangement project designed by Cellini, with the square in front of the dromos, the spaces serving the Augustan complex, and the green square at modern urban elevation, ideally connected to the arrangement of greenery on the circular concamations. The new arrangement thus defined also allows for the drafting of an overall arrangement project that should reconstitute the link, which over the centuries had been created between the mass of the imperial tomb and the urban fabric developed around it since the last decades of the 15th century, erased by the demolitions of the 1930s that isolated the remains of Augustus’ mausoleum in the center of a new square. For this reason, the layout of the plaza (infopoint and route outside the mausoleum) should be complementary, and possibly contextual, to the narrative that will be developed within the concamations, articulated on the events that affected the Mausoleum and the surrounding space from Roman times to the mid-twentieth century.

Linfopoint and the outdoor trail will complete the narrative. The final work of the complete museum layout, to be carried out with the TIM Foundation, will be able to count on technological supports, exhibition solutions and modes of use for the public of the highest technical and scientific level. However, it is possible to bring forward to December 2020 the fruition of the monument with respect to the planned terms for the completion of the plant engineering and finishing works of the rooms intended for musealization, according to the indicated modalities. The central area, in fact, can remain safely accessible and visitable even during the completion works of the concamerations and the ongoing construction site for the arrangement of the Square with simple provisional works. As early as April 2021, it is planned to enrich the public tour route with digital, virtual and augmented reality content in cooperation with the TIM Foundation, which has already activated an interactive experience on the new Mausoleum of Augustus website, however.

Pictured: The Mausoleum of Augustus in 2019. Ph. Credit Jamie Heath

Rome, starting tomorrow the Mausoleum of Augustus reopens. It will be free for everyone for a month

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