<P> The Atrium Vestae was a three - story 50 - room palace in the ancient Roman Forum built around an elegant elongated atrium or court with a double pool . To the very east is an open vaulted hall with a statue of Numa Pompilius, the mythological founder of the cult . </P> <P> The complex lay at the foot of the Palatine Hill, where a sacred grove that was slowly encroached upon lingered into Imperial times, when all was swept away by the Fire of Rome in 64 . The House of the Vestals was rebuilt several times in the course of the Empire . After the dissolution of the College of the Vestals and the introduction of compulsory Christianity by Theodosius I in the late 4th century AD, the House of the Vestals continued to serve as a residence building . It now housed officials of the imperial court, and subsequently the papal court . Archaeological finds from this period include a hoard of 397 gold coins from the 5th century and another 830 Anglo - Saxon coins dating from the 9th and 10th centuries . The site was abandoned in the 11th / 12th century . </P> <P> Today, remains of the statues of the Vestals can be seen in the Atrium Vestae . </P>

When was the house of the vestals built