In the ancient times, fires were as great of a threat as plagues or wars. In 64 AD, however, one of the most disastrous fires in the history of Rome swallowed up the Eternal City. At that time, the Roman emperor Nero had been ruling for almost ten years. In the destruction of a massive part of the city center, he saw an occasion to develop a new building complex. He decided to create the grandest and fanciest palace Rome had ever seen – Domus Aurea.

Our guide, who was also an archeologist, told us that Domus Aurea has over 142 rooms with high ceilings of circa 10-11 meters, and that’s roughly two-thirds of what the building originally was. Before we entered into the darkness, we had to put yellow helmets on because Domus Aurea is also an active archeological site. Constantly under renovation, Domus Aurea sill reveals new rooms are its ancient walls are still the only construction that holds up tones of soil, rocks, and plants above it.

The first thing we felt after we entered inside was how the air became cold. As soon as our eyes got used to the dim light, we noticed the high ceiling of a long and narrow brick corridor. We were inside ancient Roman structure.

The labyrinth of rooms with entrances that where closed off by walls or soil and dirt made us feel like we were already lost. Only the air, that was getting chillier and more humid, reminded us that we were going deeper into the palace. The feeling of physically being there made us understand how grand Domus Aurea was, and how much space it had to occupy when it was still above the ground.

First, we visited the Nymphaeum, a room dedicated to nymphs, usually containing a fountain and cave-like (grotto-like) ceiling. The gtotto ceiling had an irregular structure, looking like frozen mud splashes mixed with little shining rocks. On the ceiling, we could still see a mosaic with Polyphemus, one-eyed giant described in Homer's Odyssey, nested in the grotto surface. The room was originally all in marble, with colorful frescos on the wall that were decorated with precious gems and glass mosaic. We could still see the frescos illuminating with their delicate and slick surface of whites and reds, with geometrical lines of red and orange, and figures of men in ancient clothing. It was hard to see the details, as the frescos were in the upper part of the wall.

Anything that we could touch was the brick wall, solid and tall, leading our gaze towards the large empty rectangles – what used to be the large windows. When the light came in through the windows, it illuminated the interior, making the gems and glass mosaics shine in the sunlight. Now it was anything but shiny and warm. The floor and wall seem so strangely bare, we felt that there is something missing.

The room right next to Nymphaeum was made out of wonderfully preserved frescos, yet they were strikingly different. One part was coming from Nero’s rule, another from Claudius’ rule, Nero’s adopted father. Claudius’ frescos where less colorful, almost white, whereas Nero’s frescos were mostly red and yellow. Next to Claudius’ frescos, Nero’s look more colorful, lavish, and sophisticated. Nero become an emperor because he was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius and became Claudius' heir and successor. The transition of power was not too smooth, however. Claudius was killed by Nero’s mother. As we were standing in this room, among high callings, small and large rooms, used-to-be marbles and gems, we felt that Nero had a lot of power and wanted us to feel it. Incorporating parts of Claudius’ building with frescos into the Domus Aurea complex was a reminder of Nero's family heritage and a justification of his rule. The juxtaposition was also an invitation to compare the two rulers with an underlying praise for Nero, as his lavish and grand palace incorporated a small and modest part of Claudius’ building, “surpassing” Claudius.

We entered a large room that was closed-off from one side with soil and rocks reaching almost to the ceiling. In that room, we put on Virtual Reality headsets and we were able to see what the room looked like.

The dirt and soil that we saw covered the originally opened space. On the edge of the opened space we saw many columns, that marked the start of the gardens with a marvelous vista. We “walked outside” and we saw a great lake in the middle of the valley, fountains, gardens, and marble buildings. We looked behind and we could see the frescos on the upper part of the walls. Below, we could see a mixture of marbles, precious gems, and glass mosaics incorporated into the walls, which shined as the sunrises came in from the outside, making the room "glow" as it was made out of gold. We reentered the room and we could see how it fills with the dirt and soil. When we looked up, we could see the beautiful frescos on the ceiling. Suddenly, a hole appeared. That was the entrance of the Renaissance artists to Domus Aurea. The level of soil at this point was so high they could only see the frescos on the very top of the celling and wall.

Fortunately, some frescos "survived" under the soil, mostly the same ones that we could see without the headsets on. 

Although it was a great visualization, the moment we took off the VR sets we could really feel that we were in Nero’s Domus Aurea. We could see on our own eyes the frescos on the very top of the celling and wall, sense the humidity and chilliness of the undergrounds, and feel the distance we were walking in our feet. We could also see the roots of trees sticking out from some parts of the ceiling.

After more walking, we entered the most spectacular room: the octagonal court, the largest banquet room in Domus Aurea. One side of the room was decorated with a massive fountain made to look like a natural waterfall. The ceiling of the room was a grand concrete dome, one of the first examples of a dome in ancient Rome. The room would be covered with marbles, golds, and frescos, and would be a perfect setting for lavish banquets and fests that Nero loved to organize. 

Nero was the last Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He was not too popular as an emperor. 4 years after the great fire, Nero committed suicide to prevent his assassination. His successors, as well as the Roman people, wanted to destroy any reminder of Nero’s presence and rule. A grand artificial lake that Domus Aurea overlooked was destroyed and Amphitheatrum Flavium (today’s Colosseum) was built on its place. The marbles, golds, and gems where ripped off the walls and floors of Domus Aurea. The rooms where cut with new walls and were filled with soil to create a foundation for Trajan’s baths.

When we walked out of the Domus Aurea we could not stop thinking about what we saw underground. The palace complex occupied all of the Colosseum Valley, including the surrounding hills. One of those hills was Esquiline Hill, which constituted only a part of the whole, and on which we were standing as we left Domus Aurea. We looked in the direction of the Colosseum and imagined that it used to be the lake that Nero saw from perhaps the same spot we were standing on. We discovered a part of Rome that was buried underground, both historically and physically, and will perhaps never be fully regained.

 We looked upon Rome again and saw it differently – from above and under the ground.

Ironically, while attempting to erase Domus Aurea from history, ancient Romans helped to preserve it for us to visit and marvel at in 2019.