Villa Adriana
Villa Adriana is an architectural masterpiece of the Roman Empire, built specifically for Emperor Adrian in Tivoli. The villa includes 30 buildings scattered over an area of more than 1 km2. Today, the architectural complex is badly destroyed, but this did not prevent UNESCO from listing Adrian's villa on architectural heritage lists.
The villa was built at the beginning of the 2nd century on a limestone terrace. To this day, only a fifth of the entire architectural complex has been preserved. A huge number of people and money were attracted to the construction, which significantly raised the economy and demography of neighboring regions.
The villa was built according to Roman architectural traditions, so all buildings are successfully combined with the surrounding nature. Adrian highlighted the buildings, giving each building a name, in honor of the places where he visited. With the death of the emperor, the villa quickly became desolate, and the heirs used the villa as a summer residence. At the end of the 3rd century, Emperor Diocletian restored the buildings, but subsequent rulers began to pull the villa apart. For example, Konstantin I the Great took away many works of architectural art for decorating Constantinople. In the 6th century, local territories were plundered by the troops of the Visigoths. They looted the villa until the first excavations in the 16th century, when more than 300 objects of art were taken out of here, which today can be found in various museums. Hippolito d’Este, who used statues and marble columns to decorate his villa, made a considerable contribution to the destruction.
The buildings of the Adrian villa include Big and Small Terms. In the Small, supposedly women washed, and in the Big Men. The baths were separated by a small courtyard. The same terms included rooms with cold, warm and hot pools. In the male part, the bath adjoined the palestra - a playground for playing sports. There was also a room for playing ball in the Big Term. Terms were heated in 2 ways, the remains of a heating network for water were found, as well as for hot air circulating under the floor and through the channels in the walls.
No less interesting is Canopa - a pond of 119 by 18 meters, symbolizing possibly an Egyptian settlement near Abukir, in which Emperor Andrian spent part of his life. To serve the emperor, Chento cellle was built, with a large number of rooms for slaves, a barracks for security guards and Pretoria - a multi-story building for servants.
The island villa is a small house with fountains and columns, surrounded by a canal with an arched gallery. Once 2 drawbridges led to the house, today they are replaced with brick ones. Also on the territory of Adrian's villa you can see the remains of the library, temples, pavilions, a solar bath, academy, various squares and water bodies.
Even in a ruined state, Adriana's villa is admirable by visitors.
