Rome

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Domus Aurea

Note: Crumbling masonry meant the Domus had to shut down in 2005; it is due to reopen in 2008.

In the summer of AD 64, fire devastated a large part of central Rome. Afterwards, anything unsinged east of the Forum was knocked down to make way for Emperor Nero’s Domus Aurea (Golden House). A three-storey structure, its main façade faced south and was entirely clad in gold; inside, every inch not faced with mother-of-pearl or inlaid with gems was frescoed by Nero’s pet aesthete Fabullus. The moment Nero died in AD 68, however, work was begun to eradicate every vestige of the hated tyrant. So thorough was the cover-up job that for decades after its frescoes were rediscovered in 1480, no one realised it was the Domus Aurea that they had stumbled across.

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