Parts of Domus Aurea collapsed in Roma

[DAVIDE]

ROME (Reuters) - Part of the ceiling of ancient Roman emperor Nero's Golden Palace collapsed on Tuesday, rekindling fears that site is unsafe for the hordes of tourists who come to see it every year.
Nero's Golden Palace or Domus Aurea, which lies on a hill overlooking the Colosseum, was built in the first century A.D. and has been plagued with structural problems since it was opened to the public in 1999.
Workers were undertaking repairs when part of the roof collapsed, causing a section of the garden above it to fall into the palace over an area of some 100 sq metres, officials said. No injuries were reported.
Nero built his palace after the great fire of Rome in 64 A.D. as a party villa rather than a residence. Covered in part by gold leaf, it also had walls decorated with semi precious stones and frescoes.
Experts at the site said the part of the roof that collapsed was a segment constructed after Nero's palace, known as Trajan's gallery, and not normally open to the public. Emperor Trajan ruled from 98-117 A.D. and built the Trajan baths on top of the Domus Aurea.
However, Tuesday's collapse is set to rekindle the debate about the sorry state of Rome's eroding archaeological sites.
The Domus Aurea, which attracts on average 1,000 visitors a day, was closed in late 2005 for more than a year after the culture ministry said it could not guarantee the safety of visitors and staff.





Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/...apse.html?_r=1

Wow. This smells of funds lacking


More coverage:

Nero's Golden Palace ceiling collapses due to rain

A large section of the ceiling has collapsed at Roman Emperor Nero's famous 2000-year-old Golden Palace due to heavy winter rain.


Firefighters carried out a search of the area but there were no reports of any people being trapped or injured in the collapse


Nero's Domus Aurea or Golden Palace has had a troubled history and has been opened and closed several times over the last few decades as restorers and structural engineers struggle to keep the mighty complex from collapsing.
In 2005 the palace was shut after masonry fell from flaking walls and a high level of dangerous seepage was detected, it reopened a few months later only to close again a short while later for further work to make it completely safe.

Officials said that around 60 square metres (645 sq ft) of ceiling had collapsed and pictures taken above ground showed a huge hole in the ground with buckled metal fencing balancing precariously on the edge.
Firefighters carried out a search of the area but there were no reports of any people being trapped or injured in the collapse which follows months of unseasonably wet weather in Rome.
It was not immediately clear if the part of the ceiling that had collapsed was the same one that had fallen before.
Piero Melloni, a civil protection official who was at the scene, said: "It's obvious that the rain caused the collapse.
"It appears that a large part of the ceiling in the central vault has collapsed. We are working to make it safe and fire crews are checking to see if anyone is trapped but we don't think there is."
They were also joined from officials and archaeologists from the Italian Ministry of Culture who were also examining the area and Rome's centre right mayor Gianni Alemanno said: "I am very worried. I am keen to see what the archaeologists say."
The top of the Domus, which overlooks the Forum to one side and the Circus Maximus and the Colosseum to another, is covered with parks, trees and roads whose weight and polluting effect are a constant threat.
It was built after the great fire that destroyed Rome and historians believe that Nero allowed the fire to rage unchecked just so he could build his lavish palace.
After Nero's suicide in AD 68, the palace was stripped of its marble, jewels and ivory within a decade and it was later filled in and built over.
It was eventually rediscovered in the 15th Century after a local fell through the ground and into the remains of the structure.
Within days people were letting themselves down on ropes so they could admire the frescoes that remained among them artists Raphael and Michelangelo who carved their names on the walls.
Last September archaeologists have uncovered what is believed to be the famous rotating dining room of the Golden Palace a room which moved thanks to a complicated feat of Roman civil engineering that involved spheres underneath powered by canals of water.



Source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...e-to-rain.html

(VIDEO1)
La reggia 'dorata' voluta da Nerone. (VIDEO2)



Fortunately the collapsed area had no frescoes

[DAVIDE]

Wow i never seen an abyss like that, it's huge and could be avoided giving funds to operators

btw more coverage by discovery news

Part of the ceiling of Nero's 2,000-year-old Golden Palace collapsed in Rome Tuesday morning, leaving a huge hole in the ground.
The collapse occurred at the central vault in one of the galleries inside the fabled complex, in an area known as the "Fifteen Room."
Experts believe water had seeped into the ceiling, causing it to literally crumble away.
"Around 60 square meters (645 square feet) have collapsed due to heavy rain. The damage does not involve the main part of the palace, but one of the galleries built by Trajan, the emperor who succeeded Nero, in 104 A.D.," Antonello Vodret, technical director of the site, told reporters.
No injuries were reported, but the situation is cause for "extreme alarm," according to Luciano Marchetti, the special commissioner for the site.
"More collapses are possible in a near future," Marchetti said.
Known as Domus Aurea, the palace was built by Nero (37 A.D. - 68 A.D.) after the great fire in 64 A.D. as an act of megalomaniac self-aggrandizement.
Lying on a hill overlooking the Colosseum, the sprawling palace was called "Golden House" because of the amount of gold leaf which adorned much of it, testifying Nero's lust for excess.
Indeed, the ceilings of its 150 rooms were once encrusted with pearls and covered in ivory, its mazes of passageways were lined with frescoes, while a 160-foot statue, the so-called "Colossus of Nero," stood at the entrance.
The palace was completed in 68 A.D. -- the same year the emperor committed suicide -- but within a decade was stripped of its marble, jewels and ivory, filled in and built over.
On the site of Nero's lakeside palace, Vespasian built the Colosseum, while Trajan's Baths and Hadrian's Temple of Venus and Rome were also built on top of the site.
Totally obliterated, the Domus Aurea was rediscovered in the 15th century after a local resident fell through the ground into the remains of the palace.
Last September archaeologists uncovered at the site what they believe to be the remains of Nero's "coenatio rotunda," the famous rotating dining room which, according to the ancient historian Suetonius, rotated day and night to imitate Earth's movement.
But the monument has been always plagued by structural problems. It was reopened in 1999 after an 18-year restoration project following similar problems over rainwater seeping into the brickwork.
It was briefly closed to the public again in 2001, after part of a ceiling collapsed. In 2005, the monument closed again after heavy rain threatened to cause other collapses. Briefly reopened the following year, it was closed again in 2008.
Following a 3.2 million-euro ($4.3 million) restoration project, the Domus Aurea was scheduled to re-open completely in 2011.
Experts now estimate that it will cost some 10 million euros ($13.4 million) to repair the water infiltration problem and restore the monument.




Picture: A detail of what is believed to be the famous rotating dining room of the Golden Palace. Courtesy: Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma.



Source:

http://news.discovery.com/archaeolog...s-in-rome.html

Domus Aurea in 3D

[SigniferOne]

Wow davide, do we have evidence for that astronomical room? Looks a lot like the Antikythera mechanism! I would love to read a journal article or something about it if you know of one.

[DAVIDE]

Wow davide, do we have evidence for that astronomical room? Looks a lot like the Antikythera mechanism! I would love to read a journal article or something about it if you know of one.

It's the Coenatio Rotunda, the dining rotating room. Suetonius in his book Caesar's life tells that Nero had a rotating disposal decorated with zodiacal signs and constellations painted in the octagonal main room of Domus Aurea. In 66 Ad Nero invited Tiridates, brother of the king of Parthians, to see his palace and legend says that in following centuries having a rotating room with a painted firmament became a prerogative of Sassanid throne rooms. Btw a mechanism like that is reported also in Varro De Re Rustica when it says that in his Cassino's aviary he built a columnade surmounted by a dome in which in his interior the Lucifer's rotation was simulated during the day and Vesper during the night to indicate the time. Water, birds, animals, trees, flowers etc. were represented too to symbolize the different elements of universe.


About rotating room






Roman Emperor Nero's legendary rotating dining room uncovered by



BBC NEWS | Europe | Nero's rotating dining room discovered

BLOG: Roman Emperor Nero's Dining Room Found



etc.

[SigniferOne]

Isn't this very much comparable to the Antikythera mechanism?

Btw the room in the youtube clips has a rotating ceiling, while the Coenatio Rotunda rotated the room itself -- is this distinction important?

[DAVIDE]

Isn't this very much comparable to the Antikythera mechanism?

Well no, Antekythera purpose was to calculate the movement of planets, lunar phase, days and equinox while Nero's one just ro represent the night in his globality as anyone can see it watching the stars. A big night wallpaper painted on the dome. Mechanism of both had just a similarity. a radial rotating with the assistance of gears. But Nero's coenatio was like a mill, working thanks to an advanced hydraulic system while Antekythera's more similar to a modern era clock

Btw the room in the youtube clips has a rotating ceiling, while the Coenatio Rotunda rotated the room itself -- is this distinction important?

Basically no because initially archaeologists thought just the roof rotated. Hypothesis then dismantled thanks to the finding of double radial device found in both upper and lower parts of the room. 7 radials visible in total for now, 4 superior and 3 inferior plus 3 semicircular cavity 23cm of diameter wide where archaeologists think water was flowing thanks to hydraulic pumps to give strenght to 360° rotation. It is thought also that several slaves had the function to help the same rotation of the room moving the platform. For the rest what we know about structure's that have been made by two architect: Severus and Celere while painture was made by Fabullus

[SigniferOne]

Well no, Antekythera purpose was to calculate the movement of planets, lunar phase, days and equinox while Nero's one just ro represent the night in his globality as anyone can see it watching the stars. A big night wallpaper painted on the dome. Mechanism of both had just a similarity. a radial rotating with the assistance of gears. But Nero's coenatio was like a mill, working thanks to an advanced hydraulic system while Antekythera's more similar to a modern era clock

Yeah but I don't understand what the major difference is. AK didn't 'calculate' anything, it merely worked on gears to show the planets according user's selection of the dial. Coenatio showed the planets at various times of the day. How is it different? The geared representation of the solar system, including planetary epicycles etc, was the same.

Basically no because initially archaeologists thought just the roof rotated. Hypothesis then dismantled thanks to the finding of double radial device found in both upper and lower parts of the room. 7 radials visible in total for now, 4 superior and 3 inferior plus 3 semicircular cavity 23cm of diameter wide where archaeologists think water was flowing thanks to hydraulic pumps to give strenght to 360° rotation.

Do you have any articles or blogs which follow the latest results of investigation?

[DAVIDE]

Yeah but I don't understand what the major difference is. AK didn't 'calculate' anything, it merely worked on gears to show the planets according user's selection of the dial. Coenatio showed the planets at various times of the day. How is it different? The geared representation of the solar system, including planetary epicycles etc, was the same.

Purpose of the Coenatio's just to imitate the movement of earth from the day till night. No moving of constellation planets etc. Everything was prefixed

Do you have any articles or blogs which follow the latest results of investigation?

I just have something about the damages Domus suffered but nothing related to the Coenatio or news about that

[SigniferOne]

Purpose of the Coenatio's just to imitate the movement of earth from the day till night. No moving of constellation planets etc. Everything was prefixed

In the Italian youtube clip the room has stars and planets fixed upon the ceiling, moving according to geared ratios:

I just have something about the damages Domus suffered but nothing related to the Coenatio or news about that

Where do you get the knowledge like the facts below :

"Hypothesis then dismantled thanks to the finding of double radial device found in both upper and lower parts of the room. 7 radials visible in total for now, 4 superior and 3 inferior plus 3 semicircular cavity 23cm of diameter wide where archaeologists think water was flowing thanks to hydraulic pumps to give strenght to 360° rotation."