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Castle of the Holy Angel
This is Castel Sant’Angelo—also known as the Mausoleo di Adriano and, across the border in German, the “Engelsburg.” Before it ever became a fortress, it was commissioned by Emperor Hadrian as his mausoleum, and the tomb itself was erected on the Tiber’s right bank between 134 and 139 AD. After Hadrian died, his ashes were brought here a year later, in 138, alongside those of his wife Sabina and his first adopted son, Lucius Aelius. From the start, it was no plain tomb: it began as a decorated cylinder with a garden on top and a golden quadriga. Later, popes converted it into a castle dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel—so the same round structure goes from imperial family resting place to military stronghold. That shift matters, because the last recorded deposit of succeeding emperors was Caracalla in 217. Even the approach is tied to the site’s origins: Hadrian built the Pons Aelius facing straight onto the mausoleum. …
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