Roof collapses on Nero’s palace

Domus Aurea

This morning parts of the roof of at Nero’s Golden Palace in Rome, Domus Aurea, collapsed this morning. Workers were doing repairs when parts of the roof collapsed, which in turn led to the garden on top of the roof collapsed inside the palace in an area of about 100 square meters. No one was injured, however.
Domus Aurea is situated on a hillside overlooking the Coliseum which was built during the first century after Christ and the site has been plagued by problems since it opened to the public 1999th.
Nero’s Palace was built after the Great Fire of Rome 64 years, it was intended more as a pleasure house than a residence. In addition to it’s gold leaf surface, the walls of the villa was covered with frescoes and semi-precious stones.
According to experts, the portion of the roof that collapsed was built later than the Palace, and known as Trajan Gallery. Trajan became emperor Nero after half a century and built the pool, known as the Baths of Trajan, on top of the Domus Aurea.
Tuesday’s collapse is expected to relaunch the debate about the poor condition of Rome’s crumbling monuments are in.
Domus Aurea was closed for over a year from the end of 2005 since the Ministry of Culture announced that it could not ensure visitors’ and staff safety.