Burning Down the House

Some historians claim Nero started the Great fire of Rome, to clear the city’s crowded streets of Insulae (apartment blocks). We’ll leave that aside and focus on the visual imagery. After spending so much time building Rome in both the Roman Republic and Imperial era we wanted to burn down the house, representing how the city may have appeared on fire. The obvious ‘big one’ was in 63 CE during Emperor Nero rule. Over the years it’s been a requested shot from directors and producers, but one that they couldn’t afford at the time.

The shots will be available in the Ancient Rome collection.

We are also planning on creating shots of the Great fire of London, and add them to the Tudor London collection. 

Stay tuned, or get in touch if you wish us to burn down other cities!

The aerial CGI map shows the extent of the Great fire of Rome. It was believed the fire started near Circus Maximus and swept across the city in a North, North East direction. 

Please note, this city masterplan is circa 300 CE and not the first century CE.

External References
Wikipedia