More attractions & sights in Rome
Here I have collected some difference sights and attractions in Rome that is worth a visit when you are in Rome.
(Click on the pictures from Rome to view larger version)
Bocca della Verità
The mask is sculptured in Pavonazzettomarble and you will find it at the entrance to the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.
The Tiber
The river Tiber flows through Rome and contribute to its character. It was an important
transportation route once but Rome has also been attacked from enemies using the Tiber. It was partly as protection for that kind of assault that Castel Sant'Angelo was rebuld from mausoleum to a castle.
The Tibern
Here is the Tiber (named Tevere in Italian) at the Ponte Sant'Angelo with a view towards the central of Rome. The bridge is located at Castell Sant'Angelo.
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Augustus Mausoleum
To the left you can see a portion of the mausoleum, and behind it is one of Rome's many churches. For those who follow the TV serie "Rome" (spoiler varning) it might be interesting to know that hes name was Octavius Augustus before he became emperor.
When we peeked into a church in Trastevere, they just started a free concert by an American choir. Not really my taste in music normally but it turned out to be one of the most atmospheric music experiences I had.
Lite fakta:
Bocca della Verità
The mask is sculptered in Pavonazzettomarble and is 1.75 m in diameter. It weighs 1200 kg. You can find it at the entrance to the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. Do you put your hand into the "Mouth of Truth" and you committed perjury you hand will be bitten off accordning to the legend.
Do you dare to try?
Tempio di Vesta
The cult of Vest was founded by Rome's second king and they worshiped Vesta, the goddess of fire.
Romulus & Remus
According to the legend, the God of Mars abandoned his newborn twin sons, Romulus and Remus. They were rescued by a she-wolf who let them suckle her and was later found by a poor shepherd and his wife. With the help of a sacred plow the brothers plowed the boundaries of the city but they started to fight. Romulus killed Remus and named the city to Rome after his own name.
Augustus Mausoleum
Emperor Augustus built his mausoleum 28 BC. It is round with a diameter of 90 meters and a height of 42 meters. Here he was buried among several of the imperial family.
Giordano Bruno
Bruno was an Italian free-thinking philosopher, priest and cosmologist. He also was involved with the occult and became interested in magic.
He was born in 1548 and died in 1600 when he was sentenced to be burned alive at the stake by the Roman Church's inquisition. Bruno is considered the first who died a martyr's death because he "thought-free". He defended Copernicus's and his heliocentric view pf the world in which the earth rotates around the sun and not vice versa as the church claimed. If that was why he was sentenced to death is not historically determined, but also Galileo Galilei got in trouble with the church for the same reason. He was forced to sit imprisoned in his home, so it should probably be seen as quite likely that Bruno's belief in a helocentriska universe may have been a strong contributing factor.
Pope John Paul II admitted much later that the Church was wrong about Galileo. It was when the church convicted of the science of what is spun around what. No such apology has never happend in Bruno's case. Which should be the natural thing to do no matter if they executed him because of occultism or his belief that the earth was spinning around the sun.