The Castel Sant Angelo is a building situated on the right bank of the Tiber at a short distance to Vatican City, in Rome. It takes the name after the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who ordered the building of his mausoleum and the Pons Aelius (a bridge over the Tiber), some time between 135 AD and 139 AD. The tombs of Hadrian and his wife Sabina had been preserved inside the building until the 4th century AD, when Castel Sant’Angelo became a military fortress and was included in the Aurelian Walls.
In the 14th century the structure was converted into a castle and used as a safe house by popes. It also contained several prisons, and a most famous prisoner was Benvenuto Cellini, who managed to escape letting himself down by a rope made of his bedding.
Nowadays the Castel Sant’Angelo is house to the omonym museum. On the top of the castle is the Angel that gives the current name to the building, made in 1753 by Pierre van Verschaffelt.
Tags: Benvenuto Cellini, Castel Sant Angelo, Emperor Hadrian, Vatican City
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