Civilizations & archaeology

Construction of Castel Sant'Angelo

c. 135 CE

Castel Sant'Angelo is a massive cylindrical fortress on the bank of the Tiber in Rome. It was built as a mausoleum for the emperor Hadrian and his successors, and was completed in the second century. In late antiquity it was turned into a fortress, and in the Middle Ages the popes took it over and linked it to the Vatican by a fortified passage, the Passetto di Borgo, along which Pope Clement VII escaped during the Sack of Rome in 1527. Its name comes from a legend that Pope Gregory the Great saw an angel sheathing a sword above it, ending a plague. It later served as a prison and barracks, and is now a museum.

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This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 2nd century.