Circus of Nero- The Ancient Circus Building

Circus of Nero (or Circus of Gaius (Caligula)) was a circus in ancient Rome placed at today's Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican. All that is left today of this circus is the obelisk that stood at its center.

Caligula (31 August 12 AD - 22 January 41 AD), a Roman emperor, began construction of this circus in the year 40 AD on the land of his mother, Agrippina. Claudius, who succeeded him, finished construction. Grimaldi says that the circus was 90 meters wide and 161 long. It was where Caligula and Nero trained racing with four-horse chariots. In 65 AD, the first fist public persecution of Christians happened in this circus, and Christian tradition says that Saint Peter lost his life there two years later. Saint Peter's tomb is in this area, in the cemetery near where the Circus was. Obelisk that stood in the center was placed there by Caligula. It was later (in the 16th century) moved to Saint Peter's Square by the architect Domenico Fontana.

The circus was abandoned by the middle of the 2nd century AD, so Constantine built the first basilica (Old St. Peter) at the site of the Circus using some of the existing structure. Most of the ruins of the Circus survived until the mid-15th century. They were finally destroyed to make space for the new St. Peter's Basilica construction.