Mausoleum of Augustus

The draw

The tomb Augustus built for himself in 28 BCE, before he had finished becoming Augustus — one of his first projects in Rome after Actium. Ninety metres across and forty-two high, faced in travertine, planted with cypresses, and holding the golden urns of Marcellus, Agrippa, Octavia, Drusus, and Gaius and Lucius Caesar. Twin pink granite obelisks flanked the door; they stand now at Piazza dell'Esquilino and the Quirinal fountain.

The problem when visiting

You cannot go in. It has been closed since 6 June 2022 for the renovation of Piazza Augusto Imperatore, having reopened only in March 2021 after fourteen years of restoration. It has been open for roughly fifteen months out of the last twenty years.

The tactic

Treat it as a thing to look at, not enter — and check first. The restoration is by Rem Koolhaas, part-financed by Bvlgari, and was expected to finish by the end of 2026. Walk the piazza, which is free and open at any hour, then go into the Museum of the Ara Pacis immediately next door, which is open and which holds the Res Gestae that was once mounted on this building's own entrance.

Do not try to get in. It is closed for construction, not for crowd control, and the hoardings are there because the piazza is a working site.

Check the status before travelling across the city for it. This page can tell you it was closed on 1 October 2026 and that the work was due to finish about now; it cannot tell you about tomorrow.

Spend the visit next door instead. The Museum of the Ara Pacis is adjacent, ticketed and open, and it carries the Res Gestae that belonged to this monument. Money spent there supports the same civic museum system.

Treat the piazza as a building site, because it is. Keep to the walkways and out of the contractors' way.

Remember what the square is. The setting is a 1930s Fascist clearance built to frame the tomb for political purposes, and the current works are the second total rebuilding of its surroundings in a century. It is a monument that has spent longer being re-presented than being open.

It is closed

The Mausoleum of Augustus has been shut to visitors since 6 June 2022. Turismo Roma states that from that date the Mausoleum closes temporarily to allow the advancement of the renovation work in Piazza Augusto Imperatore. There is no ticket to buy and no way in.

Its opening record is worse than that sounds. It had reopened in March 2021 after fourteen years closed for restoration, and shut again fifteen months later. It has been open for roughly fifteen months out of the last twenty years.

When it might reopen

The current work is by the architect Rem Koolhaas, partly financed by the Bvlgari Group, and was expected to be completed by the end of 2026. That is now, which means this is exactly the moment to check rather than assume — from this page or any other.

How to see it anyway

Getting there

Piazza Augusto Imperatore, near the corner with Via di Ripetta as it runs along the Tiber, between the church of San Carlo al Corso and the Museum of the Ara Pacis.

Accessibility

Turismo Roma directs visitors to its general "Roma accessibile" section and publishes nothing specific. With the monument closed, the question is currently about the piazza rather than the building — and the piazza is itself a construction site.

On the ground

Twenty minutes, from outside. Then the Ara Pacis next door, which deserves considerably longer.

Check before you go, because the answer may have changed. The monument has been closed since 6 June 2022, and the renovation of the piazza around it was expected to complete by the end of 2026. This is the one entry on this site where the right advice is to verify rather than to plan.

While it is shut, any hour works. The exterior is visible from the surrounding piazza at all times and costs nothing.

Morning light suits the drum. It is brick and travertine with no colour to speak of, and flat midday light makes it read as a wall rather than a circle.

Pair it with the Ara Pacis. That museum is immediately adjacent, open, and holds the Res Gestae text that once stood at this building's entrance — so the half-hour you cannot spend inside the mausoleum has an obvious home.