The Temple of Venus and Roma was built atop the ruins of the atrium of Nero’s Domus Aurea. When Emperor Hadrian decided to tear it down in order to build the temple, he had to remove the Colossus of Nero. This 30-meter-high bronze statue represented Emperor Nero as the Sun God, and to transfer it. Hadrian’s architects had to employ the strength of twenty-four elephants. The animals carried the statue away from the Domus Aurea and next to the Colosseum. In fact, the Colosseum owes its name to Nero’s gigantic statue.