Sanctuary of Hercules Victor

The huge Sanctuary of Hercules Victor was devoted to protecting god of Tibur. It was located at the foot of the city. The construction of the complex lasted about ten years and gave many problems to the architects. Initially, they had to dig a covered way under the sanctuary to let the ancient Tiburtina Valeria road pass through, the so-called Via Tecta, and then they were forced to raise the arches to get across the Aniene river ravines.

Originally the sanctuary occupied 3,000 square meters and was divided into three environments: a temple, a theatre and a huge square that served as a sacred area. The main purpose of the magnificent and gigantic architectural design (188 x 141 m) was to impress all visitors coming to Tivoli from Rome. The structure used for the foundations rose up to about 50 meters above the Aniene River. In the past the sanctuary housed the statue of Hercules, the god worshiped by the Salii priests, who organized a ceremony in his honour during the ides of August, as we are reminded by Virgil in the Aeneid.
Until fifty years ago the area of the sanctuary was occupied by the Cartiere Tiburtine: factories that transformed straw and wood in different qualities of paper, only using the driving force produced by the Aniene River.
On 1 May 2015, concurrently with the opening of Expo 2015 and the 3230 anniversary of the birth of Tivoli, there was an extraordinary opening of the Sanctuary to the public. This is also thanks to the meticulous work carried out in collaboration with the Superintendence of Archaeology of Lazio and Southern Etruria. The aim of the project is to make this site an important cultural offering of the city.

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