Many-faced Rome, numbering several millennia, is the most mysterious city in Italy, in which the pages of a historical novel come to life. The capital, which has been created for centuries, where the past, present and future are harmoniously combined, surprises with a huge number of unique objects that have made it a real open-air museum. The historical and cultural heritage of the Eternal City is available to tourists who make an exciting journey into ancient times and get acquainted with the pearl of Italy, which has preserved Christian shrines.
Catacombe di Roma
Not only Orthodox pilgrims, but also all vacationers, eager to discover something new and unknown, the roads will lead to the underground catacombs of Rome, which are an extensive network of tufa labyrinths, in the walls of which niches for burials are carved. Multi-level galleries encircling the space under the capital of the country arose in the pre-Christian era. Pagan, Saracen and Jewish catacombs are known, and in total scientists have discovered more than 60underground labyrinths and approximately 750 thousand crypts.
Most of them appeared in the early Christian era, and the very first galleries were created in 107 AD. The Apostle Peter and his disciples found faithful followers among people of various social strata. The early Christians of Rome were often persecuted as the emperor demanded that only he be recognized as a god, and the adherents of the new religion revered the one and only Christ.
Catacombs intended for burials
Earlier it was believed that people were hiding in the catacombs of Rome, who were pursued by the soldiers of the emperor, but this is not so: no one lived in the underground labyrinths, where it is always dark, because this is simply impossible. Having experienced the wrath of the rulers, the Christians used for the burial of their loved ones, separately from the pagans, abandoned quarries or private possessions of the Romans who adopted the new faith. Feeling safe, they dug passages in the tufa and expanded the already existing corridors, creating a huge network of labyrinths from 2.5 to 5 meters high. The porous rock is quite soft, crumbles easily, and it is easy to dig a whole system of transitions in it with an ordinary shovel or pickaxe.
A few facts about the burial in the galleries
On both sides of the corridors, Christians knocked out multi-tiered niches (locules) in the walls, in which the bodies of the dead were placed. Then a kind of tomb was walled up with stone slabs. The dead fellow believers were washed, anointed with incense,since the Christians did not embalm the bodies, they wrapped them in a shroud and laid them in a niche of the dungeon, covering it with bricks or a slab on which the name of the deceased and laconic epitaphs were carved. Often an oil lamp was built into the wall.
Indentations in narrow corridors were carved in several tiers up to five meters high. In the underground corridors, cubicles were cut down - side rooms, which were family crypts or burial places of popes and martyrs.
It is curious that the people who dug out the underground galleries, and subsequently kept the labyrinths in a satisfactory condition, were called fossors, and they were led by managers appointed by bishops. Many dungeons are named after them, for example, the catacombs of Callistus in Rome were named after the protodeacon Callistus, who became a pontiff. At the beginning of the 4th century, when Christianity was declared the official religion, all persecution of believers ceased, and the dungeons dug by them were recognized as official burial places.
Opening Forgotten Dungeons
The catacombs of Rome were considered a very important phenomenon in the life of the country's capital, but after a century the labyrinths fall into disrepair, as they are no longer used for the burial of the dead. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims flocked to the dungeons, which had turned into sanctuaries of martyrs. But soon, at the behest of the Roman bishops, the relics are removed and transferred to the city churches.
Deprived of the remains of revered saints, the galleries were forgotten until 1578, whenthe construction of the via Salaria road begins and the first cemetery is discovered. So the catacombs of Priscilla, an aristocrat who came from a noble and respected family and owned a large plot of land, were found, on which underground burials appeared.
Large-scale study of the catacombs of saints in Rome takes place in the 19th century, and a great contribution to their study is made by the Russian artist Reiman, who painted about a hundred copies of the frescoes preserved on the walls of the galleries. Since 1929, the collection and inventory of items preserved in the tunnels began.
Catacombe di Priscilla
The Christian dungeon system is the most extensive of all, and the oldest of them is the beautifully preserved catacombs of Priscilla, which became a real sensation. They found unique examples of ancient art: wall paintings depicting scenes from the New and Old Testaments, colorful frescoes, the main character of which is the Good Shepherd, a symbol of Jesus Christ. And an important attraction of the Roman catacombs is a small room with inscriptions in Greek, where benches for funeral meals (Cappella Greca) were installed.
Scientists are particularly interested in a bright fresco made in the 2nd century, which depicts a woman in a bright crimson dress and a light veil. This is the oldest image of a praying saint.
You can get into the underground labyrinths located at: Via Salaria, 430, by city buses numbered 86 or 92. You need to get off at the Piazza Crati stop, and then follow the signs withthe inscription via Priscilla. Access to all the dungeons is possible only as part of an excursion group.
Catacombe di San Callisto
However, the catacombs of St. Callistus in Rome, which appeared in the 2nd century, are considered the largest Christian burial. Stretching for 12 kilometers under the Appian Way, they are a four-level labyrinth, which can be called the "city of the dead", because it has its own streets, intersections and even squares. In the underground galleries, which combine cemeteries of different periods of time, archaeologists are still working, and not all burials are open to visitors. Over the course of a long history, about 50 martyrs and 16 popes found their last shelter here, and for this the catacombs are called the main monument of Christian cemeteries.
The most popular crypt is the tomb of St. Cecilia (Santa Cecilia), where wall frescoes and mosaics are perfectly preserved. On the square with the name "Little Vatican" the Roman pontiffs and holy martyrs who led the church are buried.
The underground cemetery, which was arranged by the deacon Kallistos, is recognized as the most famous catacombs of Rome. How to get to Catacombe di San Callisto located at Via Appia Antica, 110/126? City buses number 118 (you need to get off at the stop of the same name) or 218 (the final point of the Fosse Ardeatine route) will take you to the historical site.
Catacombe di San Sebastiano
The most affordable of all undergroundgalleries are the four-level catacombs of St. Sebastian. Located at: Via Appia Antica, 136, they are much worse preserved than the rest. Once upon a time, pagans buried their loved ones in labyrinths, and by the end of the 2nd century, the consecrated necropolis became Christian. Saint Sebastian, who challenged the emperor Diocletian, died in 298, and after the burial of his remains, the previously unnamed catacombs of Rome received their current name.
How to get into the unique tunnels where religious meetings were once held during the persecution of Christians? You can get to them by city buses at numbers 118 and 218, and you need to get off at the Cecilia Metella stop.
Attractive underground cemeteries for tourists
Tourists who have visited the underground galleries admit that it is difficult for them to describe the whole gamut of feelings at the sight of gravestones that appeared many centuries ago.
Gloomy deserted corridors, which are always quiet, evoke thoughts of imminent death, but the mysterious labyrinths that keep many secrets still attract visitors who love thrills. In the catacombs of Ancient Rome, untouched by modernity, everyone will touch the distant early Christian times.
