page_title: False door
section_title: Ancient Rome
hierarchical_section_title: False door / Ancient Rome
caption_attribution_description: Close-up of a fresco with a false door in the atrium of the Villa Poppaea.
context_page_description: A false door is an artistic representation of a door which does not function like a real door. They can be carved in a wall or painted on it. They are a common architectural element in the tombs of ancient Egypt, but appeared possibly earlier in some Pre-Nuragic Sardinian tombs. Later they also occur in Etruscan tombs and in the time of ancient Rome they were used in the interiors of both houses and tombs.
context_section_description: Painted doors were used frequently in the decoration of both First- and Second style interiors of Roman villas. 
  An example is the villa of Julius Polybius in Pompeii, where a false door is painted on a wall opposite a real door to achieve symmetry. Apart from creating architectural balance, they could serve to make the villa seem larger than it really was.
caption: Fresco of a false door in the Roman Villa Poppaea
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