©MarinaDeFranceschini - Progetto Accademia
The Imperial Residence of Villa Adriana
Part 1
The complex that in my book I have identified as the Imperial Residence of Hadrian's Villa had a central position within its plan. It consisted of a series of buildings tightly connected one to the other.
Each one had its own meaning and function: the Building with Three Exedras, the Garden Stadium, the Winter Palace, which were linked to the Quadriporticus, to the Small Baths and further on with the Vestibulum and the Praetorium Pavilion.
(see Plate 9 general plan, and Plate 10 plastic model)
PLATE 9 - PLAN OF THE IMPERIAL RESIDENCE
PLATE 10 - PLASTIC MODEL OF
THE IMPERIAL RESIDENCE
The idea that these buildings belonged to one monumental complex is supported by some evidence: their symmetry, the way they were linked together[Fig. 1], the access paths and the check-points which provided security and privacy to the Emperor.
Let us see how each one of these buildings corresponded – on a monumental and imperial scale – to one of the traditional elements of the roman domus or villa.
Figure 1 - In this picture can be seen the axiality linking the Building
with Three Exedras to the Garden Stadium and the Winter Palace.
In the foreground exedra TE17 of the Casino
and in the background room PE6 of the Winter Palace.
From the descriptions of Vitruvius and other latin sources, and from the archaeological evidence of the Vesuvius region, we know that in the domus and in the villas of roman antiquity there was a series of rooms, each one with its own function and meaning.
A narrow passage, the fauces, led to the entrance, the atrium, usually of rectangular shape. The atrium was surrounded by a porch and had a water basin at its center, the impluvium. On the atrium opened the tablinum, where were exhibited all the memorabilia of the family and the gens of the owner.
On its other end, the tablinum usually opened on an inner garden, the peristylium, which gave access to the other rooms of the house: the triclinium, the cubicula, the thermae, the latrinae, the kitchen and the wing for the production of oil or wine.
This can be seen in many monumental villas of the Vesuvian area, such as the Villa dei Misteri in Pompeii or the Villa di Poppea at Oplontis.
Within the Imperial Residence of Hadrian's Villa, the traditional language and iconography of roman architecture were still used, building in the Imperial Residence an atrium, a tablinum, a triclinium and so on. But at the same time the old iconography was transformed to create something different, monumental and spectacular, in order to underline and enhance the imperial status of the Villa.
Following Vitruvius, we can identify the atrium of the Imperial Residence in the Building in the Building with Three Exedras, which was the main entrance for those coming from the Poecile (Plate 11). Its western wing, featuring three exedrae (the 'semicircular arcades') is the evolution of the traditional roman atrium surrounded by a porch, but on an imperial large scale.
The Great fountain in room TE1 [Fig. 2] can be considered a quotation of the impluvium and of the water that decorated roman atria. The porch surrounding the impluvium, which usually was rectangular, here is curved, because curved lines are one of the main features of hadrianic architecture. The curving porches surrounded three semicircular gardens, decorated by Small fountains.
Figure 2 - Building with Three Exedras. In the foreground
the monumental fountain TE1, then the exedra TE17.
In the background is visible the upper floor of the Winter Palace.
In the eastern part of the Building with Three Exedras we can identify the tablinum in the Great hall TE20, which had a large window overlooking the inner peristyle of the Garden Stadium and the private part of Hadrian's Villa.
Hall TE20 was the largest one of the building, was located at its center, perfectly axial to the central porch NS15 of the Garden Stadium, which we can identify as an internal peristyle (Plate 12).
PLATE 12 - GARDEN STADIUM
The walls of hall TE20 were completely reveted with marble panels, which originally reached up to the ceiling; at the center of the side walls are still visible large rectangular hollows meant for marble reliefs [Fig. 3].
Figure 3 - Building with Three Exedras. Hall TE20
with large rectangular hollows for marble panels
and traces of the 'grappe' supporting the marble revetment.
The hall was monumental, and its decoration probably was linked to the Emperor's life and accomplishments, as happened in the tablina of the roman domus.
There was not a direct passageway from hall TE20 and the Garden Stadium: one had to follow a complicated path, reaching the side rooms TE22 and TE25, which were linked to the porches of the Garden Stadium. This was another of the many checkpoints created for security reasons within the Imperial Residence.
The Building with Three Exedras belonged to the group of noble buildings, as shown by the opus sectile marble panels and the outstanding wall decoration: under a suspensura were recently found several fragments of a beautiful marble 'guilloche' and a panel portraying a Charioteer with his horse.
They have been shown by the Soprintendenza Archeologica del Lazio in an exhibition linked to the Colloquium "Rileggere l'Antico", held in Rome (December 2004).
The winter heating plant is another sign of the imperial luxurious status of the building.
The inner peristyle of the Imperial Residence can be identified in the Garden Stadium (Plate 12), whose shape is a quotation of the garden-stadium in the Palatine Imperial Palace at Rome. This garden had a more complex outlay compared to its roman twin, and consisted of three different parts.
The northern one had a central exedra NS2 [Fig. 4] while rooms NS1 and NS3 had two checkpoints leading to service corridors (NS4-5).
Figure 4 - Garden Stadium. The northern part with exedra NS2 and water basin
NS9-10-11 in front of it. In the background on the left the apse of the
Philosopher's Hall and the half dome of the Thermae with Heliocaminus.
The area in front of these rooms was a garden with water basins and a Pavilion with fountains (NS 9-10-11). The central part of the GardenStadium was the garden NS15, which can be identified as a peristyle, and was flanked by two porches NS14 and NS16: they connected the Building with Three Exedras with the lower floor of the Winter Palace.
At their eastern end, these two porticoes reached three stairs, which were security checkpoints , leading up to the lower floor of the Winter Palace.
Near this peristyle there must have been a triclinium, according to the vitruvian rules: and in fact the southern part of the Garden Stadium featured a monumental open Pavilion NS17, with columns supporting a roof: it was a summer triclinium, located inside the private and closed garden of the Garden Stadium.
On its southern end there was a semicircular nymphaeum NS20 [Fig. 5], with large curved steps from which water flowed down to small canals surrounding the triclinium.
Figure 5 - Garden Stadium. The southern part with the nymphaeum
NS20 with semicircular steps. Before it are few remaining fragments of the triclinium NS17.
The rooms of the lower floor of the Winter Palace were located at an higher level compared to the Garden Stadium, over which opened with large windows (Plate 13).
They probably had a winter heating system with suspensurae, as we can see in the upper floor of the same building, (the lower floor rooms have never been explored to find out if they were heated).
PLATE 13 - WINTER PALACE
LOWER FLOOR
It is possible that the large hall PE6, which had a central axial position symmetrical to the hall-tablinum TE20 of the Building with Three Exedras, was a sheltered winter triclinium overlooking the garden.
From the lower floor of the Winter Palace, stair PE12 led to the intermediate floor: another security checkpoint (stair PE1 was never excavated, probably led to the Baths with Heliocaminus).
In the intermediate floor was located one of the best preserved structures of the Villa, the great cryptoporticus with four corridors PE29-32, with openings (window-tunnels) in the ceiling for lighting [Fig. 6]. The Great Cryptoporticus PE29-32 was originally decorated with frescoes and we can see the signatures of ancient visitors, among which Piranesi.
This subterranean portico was meant for comfortable strolling at all times: it was (and still is) very cool in summer and warm in winter. Similar cryptoporticoes are visible in the Villa of Poppaea at Oplontis, which also belonged to the Imperial House.
Figure 6 - One of the four corridors of the Cryptoporticus in the Winter Palace.
©MarinaDeFranceschini - Progetto Accademia