Castle Saint-Angel

The castle Saint-Angel (in Italian, Manor house Sant' Angelo ) is a Roman monument , located on Right Bank of the the Tiber, vis-a-vis the pons Ælius (current bridge Saint-Angel) not far from the the Vatican.

Under the Roman empire

See also: Mausoleum of Hadrian

Decided by the emperor Hadrian in 135 to be its Mausoleum, the building wants to be during tomb of Auguste: this one is located at the north of the Champ de Mars (Rome), on left bank of the the Tiber, whereas the Mausolée of Hadrian is placed on Right Bank, opposite the Champ de Mars. Moreover, the general pace of the two buildings is similar. It is completed by Antonin the Piles in 139. The monument, a massive rotunda in Travertine covered with Marble, is surmounted by a bronze quadriga carried out by the Hadrian emperor illustrated out of sun and by a thicket of funerary trees. Ashes of Hadrian are deposited there in 139. Caracalla is the last emperor to be made there bury.

Very quickly, the building is diverted of its funerary ends to become soldier. It is integrated into the wall aurélienne in 403, as a advanced bastion. When the Goth Vitigès attacks Rome in 537, the soldiers defending the castellum make use of the bronze statues which decorate it like projectiles. In 547, Totila includes the building in a strengthened structure protecting Right Bank. The district takes thus the name of Borgo .

Under papacy

The castle draws its current name from a legend appeared at the 9th century, about large the Peste of 590. The Pope of then, Gregoire I {{er}}, would have had an appearance of the archangel Michel, at the top of the castle, giving its sword to the sleeve, thus meaning the end of the epidemic. To commemorate the event, a statue of angel caps the work (initially a marble of Raffaello da Montelupo dating from 1544, and since 1753, a bronze of Pierre van Verschaffelt). In fact, the legend explains a posteriori the presence of a vault dedicated to the archangel by Boniface IV at the 7th century. The tradition consisting in capping a building of a winged being is old: almost all the buildings of the Roman Forum were crowned winged Victories.

At the beginning of the Christian time, the district of Borgo enjoys its localization near the the Vatican: the pilgrims flowing, of the structures set up themselves to accommodate them. However, in 846, the Sarrasins make a sudden incursion into the city, plunder the Basilique Saint-Pierre and devastate Borgo. To protect it, Leon IV connects it by a wall to the castle. The zone thus delimited form the “leonine city”.

The castle is then transfomé in prison, where four of the popes of the 9th century find death. Marousie, girl of Théophylacte and figurehead of the Pornocratie, in fact its residence. The castle then passes to powerful “the family” of the Crescenzi ( " castellum Crescentii" ). It is there that in 998, Crescentius Nomentanus barricades vis-a-vis the attacks of Otton III - in vain, because it finishes decapitated on the platform of the citadel. During the long fight opposing the pope to the Emperor, the castle becomes a refuge for the popes. Gregoire VII cuts off in 1083 there to resist Henri IV and in 1227, Nicolas III builds a suspended corridor connecting the castle to the Vatican, thus offering a possibility of fast escape. It is at that time that, to counter Colonna, owners of the mausoleum of Auguste, the powerful Orsini family, from which Nicolas III is resulting, the castle is allocated.

When Urbain V leaves Avignon to return to Rome, it is made give not the keys of the city but those of the castle, which takes again his role of fortress protecting the Vatican. Its successor, Gregoire IX, must however undergo the hostility of the Roman people. In 1378, crowd dismantles a good part of the building. In 1389, Boniface IX restores the castle with half in ruins. It made there bore a broad slope allowing the transport of vivres and ammunition. Loopholes are dug in the walls. Lastly, of the residences are arranged for the pope. Nicolas V adds to the building of the bastions and two turns. These installations allow Clément VII to resist six months the seat of the Lansquenet S of Charles Quint at the time of the terrible bag of Rome of 1527.

Its successor, Paul III, transforms the austere fortress into palate. In parallel, the castle Saint-Angel does not lose its statute of prison. According to the tradition, Benvenuto Cellini is thus locked up there. Until the 19th century, the castle will be used for the political papacy of prison. The July 21st 1871, the pontifical flag is brought for the last time by the pontifical troops, under the eyes of the Italian army, which takes possession of the place.

Restored at the beginning of the 20th century, the castle Saint-Angel is isolated from constructions in the neighborhoods of 1934.

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