Nero’s Golden Palace opens doors

ROME – Nero’s Golden Palace will partly reopen to visitors next week, offering rare insight into archaeologists’ efforts to preserve the first-century imperial residence from decay and humidity.

Visitors will have access to half the palace, wandering through a maze of underground passageways, officials said Wednesday. They can also climb a 43-foot scaffolding and take a close look at the building’s frescoed vaulted ceilings, as restorers and archaeologists work to clean the paint.

“People will have the chance to get to know the monument itself and the efforts to maintain and preserve it,” said archaeologist Irene Pignatelli. “The aim of this type of visit is to show how the residence can be assaulted (by weather), how to intervene and what happens after the restoration.”

Guided tours of no more than 20 people start Tuesday. Visitors are required to wear helmets as they walk through the largely underground complex.

The sumptuous residence – also known by its Latin name, Domus Aurea – rose over the ruins of a fire that destroyed much of Rome in A.D. 64 and was completed in A.D. 68, the year the unpopular Nero committed suicide amid a revolt.

After an 18-year restoration, the palace reopened in June 1999. Two years later, it was briefly closed to the public after part of the ceiling collapsed. The Domus Aurea closed again in 2005 after days of heavy rains threatened to cause the collapse of parts of the building.

The vaulted ceilings were once encrusted with pearls and covered with ivory – luxuries that were funded by heavy taxation that Nero levied on Rome’s population, said Pignatelli. Marble and other precious materials were imported from Greece, Egypt and other parts of Asia, while inhabitants of the area were expropriated to build the 198 acres residence.

“We have to imagine this place as full of light, luxurious, with precious colorful materials and golden leaves,” Pignatelli said. “Today, we only see what time and decay have given back to us.”