Mausoleum of Augustus - a huge tomb built for the Roman Emperor Augustus in the Campus Martius in Rome in 28 BC The mausoleum is located in Piazza Augusto Imperatore, at the corner of Via di Ripetta. Today, the mausoleum is closed to tourists because of its interior are in bad condition. But even imagining the ruins, it is the dominant element of the landscape on the north side of the Champs de Mars.

Construction of the mausoleum was one of the first projects of the Roman August after he defeated at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC According to the plan throughout the mausoleum consisted of several concentric rows planted with cypress and covered with a conical roof with a statue of the emperor on top. The arches supporting the roof and provides access to the burial site at the bottom. Two obelisks of pink granite framed by arched entrance. One of these obelisks is now in Piazza del Esquilino and the other - at the Quirinal fountain. The total diameter of the Mausoleum was 90 m and the height - 42 m.

From the entrance of the mausoleum in the center of the corridor led. Inside were three niches for storage of gold urns with the remains of members of the imperial family. Until August were buried in the mausoleum of his sister Octavia Jr. and grandchildren and heirs of Gaius and Lucius. In addition, in the mausoleum were buried Livia, wife of Augustus, Agrippina the Elder and her daughter Julia Livilla, Caligula, Claudius, and many relatives of the emperor.

In 410, during the sack of Rome by Alaric Visigoths defeated the mausoleum, stole ballot boxes and scattered the ashes, but left intact the structure of the building. In the Middle Ages, the mound was fortified and turned into a fortress (as Hadrian's mausoleum was turned into Castel Sant'Angelo), but in the 12th century it was destroyed. So majestic mausoleum turned into ruins. Only in 1930 the place was discovered and identified, and work began on its preservation as a monument of archeology. The restoration of the mausoleum of August meet the ambitions of Benito Mussolini to turn to the great city of Rome and the return of the glory of the Roman Empire. Mussolini himself to be a "reincarnation" of Augustus.