Stroll in Emperor Nero’s garden with Rome virtual tour
ROME: It’s a breathtaking view and you can almost smell the lavender: visitors to Rome can now stroll through Emperor Nero’s Golden House and sumptuous gardens thanks to a new virtual tour.
Only a section remains of the vast landscaped palace which once stood in the middle of the ancient city, its walls decorated with goldleaf, ivory and gemstones, among gardens boasting vineyards, pastures, woods and an artificial lake.
Treasures looted in Eastern cities were displayed in the complex of porticoes and rooms built by Nero after the great fire of Rome in 64 AD had razed the aristocratic dwellings in the area.
On his death, Nero’s successors did not take long to scrap the palace, building the Colosseum for gladiator battles on his ornamental lake in 70 AD, filling the Golden House with earth, and erecting the Baths of Trajan on top in 109 AD.
The complex was lost for centuries, before being rediscovered in the Renaissance by accident and becoming a mustsee for artists from Raphael to Michelangelo, who were lowered into one of the rooms by a window in the ceiling to study the frescoes by candlelight.
Strapping on virtual reality headsets, visitors can now see that room as it was when it was filled near to the roof with earth and as it would have looked in Nero’s time, its marble walls gleaming in the sunlight.
“It’s called the Domus Aurea (Golden House) not only for the gold leaf in the frescoes but because it was designed so that the rays of the sun would bounce off the marble and waterfalls to glimmer like jewels,” architect Gabriella Strano said Wednesday.
The viewer steps, virtually, past the columns and into the garden, crossing lavender beds and the lawn to look out across Rome.
Visitors, who must book in advance to join groups of up to 25 people, can also look behind and above them with the 360 degree technology viewers.
“There were no kitchens here, or bathrooms or heating. The rooms were all open onto the gardens or the view of the lake.
“It was probably a place to take walks and relax,” said architect Elisabetta Segala.
Maybe in the past, as you watch Rome burn. — AFP