Facelift for ancient Roman frescoes
The fresco-covered palace of Emperor Augustus on the Palatine Hill in Rome will partially reopen to the public on March 2 next year after decades of restoration work, officials said yesterday.
Since the palace closed in the 1980s, experts have spent more than €12 million (£8.63 million) to restore the porticoed garden of Rome's first emperor and to piece together precious frescoes reduced to fragments over the centuries. The palace was built in the 1st century BC.
Groups of up to 10 people will be guided through the decorative marvels in Augustus' studio and in the hall where the emperor received guests, as well as rooms in the nearby palace built for his wife Livia.
"We can finally enter these places that have been preserved for some 2,000 years," said Walter Veltroni, the mayor of Rome. Restoration of other parts of the residence will continue in the meantime.
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
Since the palace closed in the 1980s, experts have spent more than €12 million (£8.63 million) to restore the porticoed garden of Rome's first emperor and to piece together precious frescoes reduced to fragments over the centuries. The palace was built in the 1st century BC.
Groups of up to 10 people will be guided through the decorative marvels in Augustus' studio and in the hall where the emperor received guests, as well as rooms in the nearby palace built for his wife Livia.
"We can finally enter these places that have been preserved for some 2,000 years," said Walter Veltroni, the mayor of Rome. Restoration of other parts of the residence will continue in the meantime.