The Pyramid of Cestius is a tomb near Porta San Paolo and the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. Gaius Cestius, a magistrate, built it as his tomb, about 18 to 12 BC. It took 330 days. The article names no architect.
The base is 100 Roman feet (29.6 meters) square and the height is 125 Roman feet (37 meters). Brick-faced concrete covered with white marble slabs sits on a travertine foundation. A barrel-vaulted burial chamber inside measures about 19.5 by 13.5 by 15.7 feet (5.95 by 4.10 by 4.80 meters). Frescoes were recorded in 1660, though only traces survive.
Builders folded it into the Aurelian Walls between 271 and 275 as a bastion. Restoration ran from 2013 to 2015, backed by a one-million-euro gift. Since May 2015 it has opened on the second and fourth Saturday of each month, by advance booking.
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