Mausoleum of Honorius

Vatican Hill and Old St Peter's Basilica, Rome. Illustration from the Nuremberg Chronicle (1490). The large domed structure with windows at the left represents the Mausoleum of Honorius.

The Mausoleum of Honorius was a late antique circular mausoleum and the burial place of the Roman emperor Honorius and other 5th-century imperial family members. Constructed for the Augustus of the western Roman Empire beside Old St Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Mausoleum of Honorius was the last Roman imperial mausoleum built.[1][2][3]

It became the Chapel of St Petronilla, dedicated to Saint Petronilla, the purported daughter of Saint Peter. Her relics were translated to the mausoleum in 757 at the behest of Pepin the Short, king of Francia.[1] Its association with the medieval Kingdom of France continued until the Renaissance, and it was known by the Italian: Capella dei Re Franchi, lit.'Chapel of the French Kings' or Capella de' Franchi, 'Chapel of the French'.[1] The mausoleum was demolished in late November 1519, during the construction of St Peter's Basilica.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d Johnson, Mark Joseph (2009). The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 167–74. ISBN 978-0-521-51371-5. OCLC 309835740.
  2. ^ Gehn, Ulrich (2018), Nicholson, Oliver (ed.), "tombs", The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8, retrieved 2020-08-05
  3. ^ McEvoy, Meaghan (2013). "The Mausoleum of Honorius: Late imperial Christianity and the city of Rome in the fifth century". In McKitterick, Rosamond; Osborne, John; Richardson, Carol M.; Story, Joanna (eds.). Old Saint Peter's, Rome. Cambridge University Press. pp. 119–136. ISBN 978-1-107-72963-6.

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