Description of the attraction
The Mausoleum of Lucius Planck is one of the best preserved sights of Gaeta, dating back to the era of Ancient Rome. Lucius Planck was born in 90 BC, presumably in Tivoli and died at the age of 90 in Gaeta in the year of the Nativity of Christ. During his life, he held a variety of positions: he was consul in 42 BC. under the triumvirate of Lepidus, censor, city prefect and founder of two Roman colonies. He was also Julius Caesar's general in his military campaigns to conquer Gaul and served him during the Civil Wars. After Caesar won the Civil War, he dispatched Lucius Planck to Spain and appointed him city prefect. And after the death of Caesar, Lucius swore allegiance to Cicero, who entrusted him with the founding of a colony in Gaul. Later, he became the founder of another colony - Augusta Raurica (present-day Basel, Switzerland).
The last years of the life of the shrewd politician Lucius Planck were spent in Gaeta, in a small pretty villa, from which only ruins and a huge mausoleum on the top of Monte Orlando have survived to this day. This unique architectural structure was built in the 22nd year BC. in the form of a cylinder. The mausoleum, built of limestone tuff, stands at a height of 168 meters. It itself is 13.2 meters high and about 29.5 meters in diameter. The mausoleum is decorated with a frieze with military symbols. Nearby is the mausoleum of another ancient Roman public figure - Lucius Sempronius Atratinius.
