Nero commissioned the palace after the Great Fire of 64 AD, and Celer and Severus were its architects and engineers. It was built around 64 to 68 AD on the Oppian Hill, extending onto the Palatine and Caelian slopes around an artificial lake. The article calls the speed of construction remarkably short. Much of the estate is unexcavated.
Walls were polished white marble, with gold leaf and ivory veneers. The eastern wing had two dining rooms flanking an octagonal court under a dome with a central oculus, an early use of Roman concrete that may have influenced the Pantheon.
Within a decade the marble and jewels were stripped, and the Flavian Amphitheatre and imperial baths were built over the site. Of its 150-plus rooms, about a third are open, after a closure from 2008 to 2014.
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