Stand on the Palatine Hill in Rome and see Domitian's Palace rise around you, from the emperor's private entrance hall to his golden throne room. A living reconstruction of the palace, right where it stood, on your phone.
Try the appDomitian's Palace stands on the Palatine Hill, the very hill whose name gave us the word palace in English and in so many other languages. Today it is a field of open ruins. The coloured marble that once lined every wall is gone, some of it burned down for lime, some of it carried off to decorate churches and later palaces, and the halls where an emperor once received the whole world now stand roofless and bare to the sky.
TimeLens brings it back with Learning Sites Inc., the oldest and most experienced virtual heritage company. Working from the excavated remains and careful architectural research, they rebuilt the palace as it stood when the architect Rabirius completed it in the year 92, and set it back where it belongs. Stand at a site, raise your phone, and see the coloured marble, the gilded ceilings and the fountains restored around you, exactly as Domitian's guests once saw them.
What makes this palace special is how deliberately it was built to be seen. Rabirius lined up doorway after doorway and courtyard after courtyard, so that wherever a visitor stood, the eye was drawn on into the next space, the next fountain, the next view. Domitian's Palace is also where our work in Rome begins. These are the first TimeSpots we have built in the city, and many more are planned as we widen our reach across ancient Rome.
Each TimeSpot is a real place within Domitian's Palace on the Palatine Hill where you can stand and see the past restored in full, 360 degrees around you. Travel to a spot to unlock it, then look around the scene at your own pace. Below you can find every Rome TimeSpot we currently have, the first of many still to come in the city.
Make your way to one of the historic locations shown on the map. Once you arrive, it automatically unlocks the TimeSpot for you.
Hold up your phone and take in the scene in every direction. A 360-degrees historic reconstruction of the city full of life.
For each location you discover, you receive a badge and some TimeCoins as a reward. Discovering combinations of TimeSpots even gives you special awards.
Every reconstruction takes months of research and craft. A small amount each month helps us build more of them, and brings you along for the journey, with early previews, behind the scenes insights, and a say in which places we bring back next. You can even have your name featured in the app, or appear as a figure in a future scene.
Support us on PatreonFollow the newest reconstructions, fresh TimeSpots and the stories behind our work in Rome, as they are published on the blog.
Want to see more updates about TimeLens in other locations, check out all the other updates below.
At the heart of Domitian's Palace lies its great courtyard, the peristyle, a garden ringed on every side by a covered colonnade. TimeLens's 360° reconstruction of Domitian's peristyle garden covers both its entrance and…
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Beside the great dining hall of Domitian's Palace stand a pair of Roman fountain rooms, and TimeLens's reconstruction shows what they were for. These rooms exist for the hall next door: they are what made the emperor's…
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A few steps up from the great courtyard of Domitian's Palace lies Domitian's dining hall, known to the Romans as the Cenatio Iovis, the dining room of Jupiter, king of the gods. The name alone tells you what kind of…
Read MoreEvery TimeSpot in Domitian's Palace is created in collaboration with Learning Sites Inc., the oldest and most experienced virtual heritage company, whose archaeological visualisations rest on the excavated remains of the Palatine and on research into Roman architecture.
