ROME, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- One of Rome's most famous monuments, the 2,000-year-old resting place of the Emperor Hadrian, is "at the point of collapse."
"Welcome to the main entrance of one of the most famous monuments in the world," Edoardo Sassi told the newspaper Corriere della Sera. "Once upon a time Castel Sant'Angelo was one of the symbols of the capital. Now all the guards repeat as if in a litany, 'We are at the point of collapse. Here everything is falling apart.'"
The huge mausoleum was created to be the tomb of Hadrian. During the Middle Ages, the popes fortified it, adding battlements and a tunnel connecting it to the Vatican.
Its directors blame Castel Sant' Angelo's current troubles on an attempt to rationalize Italy's administration of its historic heritage in 2001. Minister of Culture Giuliano Urbani put the castle into an administrative group with seven major museums in Rome.
Luigina di Mattia said the number of staff was cut from 100 to 70 and buying even the simplest supplies became a nightmare of red tape. The result is a litter-strewn building with a homeless encampment in the moat and modern graffiti on the walls.
