Catacombs of Rome: history, overview

Many-faced Rome, counting several millennia, is the most mysterious city in Italy, in which the pages of the historical novel come to life. For centuries, the newly created capital, where the past, the present and the future blended harmoniously, is surprised by the huge number of unique objects that made it a real open-air museum. The historical and cultural heritage of the Eternal City is accessible to tourists who make a fascinating journey back in time and get acquainted with the pearl of Italy, which preserved Christian shrines.

Catacombe di Roma

Not only Orthodox pilgrims, but also all holidaymakers who are eager to discover something new and unknown, the roads will lead to the underground catacombs of Rome, representing a ramified network of labyrinths of tuff, in the walls of which are carved niches for burial. Multilevel galleries, surrounding the space under the country's capital, arose in the pre-Christian era. Pagan, Saracenic and Jewish catacombs are known, and in total scientists discovered more than 60 underground labyrinths and about 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 the people of the most diverse social strata. The first Christians of Rome were often persecuted, as the emperor demanded that only he be recognized as a god, and adherents of the new religion revered a single Christ.

Catacombs intended for burials

Previously, there was an opinion that people in the catacombs of Rome were hunted by the soldiers of the emperor, but this is not so: in the underground labyrinths, where it's always dark, no one lived, as this is simply impossible. Having experienced the wrath of the rulers, Christians used to dispose of their loved ones separately from the Gentiles abandoned quarries or private possessions of the Romans who accepted the new faith. Feeling safe, they dug the tuff holes and expanded the existing corridors, creating a huge network of mazes ranging in height from 2.5 to 5 meters. The mountainous porous rock is rather soft, crumbling easily, and it is easy to dig a whole system of transitions with an ordinary shovel or pickax.

Few facts about the burial in the galleries

On both sides of the corridors, Christians knocked out multicore niches (lokules) in which the bodies of the deceased were placed. Then a peculiar tomb was walled in with stone slabs. Deceased coreligionists were washed and perfumed, because Christians did not embalmed bodies, wrapped themselves in a shroud and put in a niche of a dungeon, closing it with bricks or a slab on which the name of the deceased and laconic epitaphs were carved. Often an oil lamp was mounted in the wall .

Depressions in narrow corridors were carved into several layers up to five meters high. In the underground corridors, cubes were cut - side rooms, which were family crypts or burial places for popes and martyrs.

It is curious that people who dug underground galleries, and subsequently kept labyrinths in a satisfactory condition, were called fossors, and governors appointed by bishops guided them. Many dungeons are named in their honor, for example the catacombs of Callistus in Rome received the name of Protodeacon Callistus, who became the pontiff. At the beginning of the IV century, when Christianity was declared an official religion, all persecutions for believers ceased, and the dungeons dug by them were recognized as official graves.

Opening forgotten dungeons

The catacombs of Rome were considered a very important phenomenon in the life of the capital of the country, but after a century labyrinths come to desolation, as they cease to be used for burial of the deceased. In the dungeons, which turned into the sanctuaries of the martyrs, flocked hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. But soon, by the will 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, when the construction of Via Salaria begins and the first cemetery is discovered. So were found the catacombs of Priscilla - an aristocrat, descended from a noble and respected family and owned a large piece of land on which underground burials appeared.

A large-scale study of the catacombs of saints in Rome takes place in the XIX century, and a great contribution to their study is made by the Russian artist Reiman, who wrote about a hundred copies of the frescoes preserved on the walls of the galleries. Since 1929, collection and inventory of surviving objects in tunnels begins.

Catacombe di Priscilla

The system of Christian dungeons is the most extensive of all, and the oldest of them are perfectly preserved catacombs of Priscilla, which became a real sensation. They revealed unique examples of ancient art: mural paintings with images of scenes from the New and Old Testament, colorful murals, the main character of which is the Good Shepherd - the symbol of Jesus Christ. And an important attraction of the Roman catacombs is a small room with Greek inscriptions, where benches for funeral meals were set up (Cappella Greca).

A special interest of scientists is the bright fresco performed 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.

To get to the underground labyrinths, located at Via Salaria, 430, you can use city buses with numbers 86 or 92. You need to get off at the Piazza Crati stop, then follow the signs with the via Priscilla sign. To get into all the dungeons is possible only as part of the excursion group.

Catacombe di San Callisto

However, the largest Christian burial site is the catacombs of St. Callistus in Rome, which appeared in the II century. Stretching for 12 kilometers under the Appian Way, they represent a four-level labyrinth, which can be called a "city of the dead", because there are its streets, intersections and even squares. In underground galleries in which cemeteries of different periods of time are combined, and now archaeologists work, and not all burials are open to visitors. For a long history here found the last shelter of about 50 martyrs and 16 Roman popes, 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 murals and mosaics are perfectly preserved. On the square with the name "Little Vatican" rest the church leaders of the Roman pontiffs and holy martyrs.

Underground cemetery, arranged by deacon Kallist, 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 under numbers 118 (you need to leave at the eponymous stop) or 218 (the final point of the route Fosse Ardeatine) will take you to the historic landmark.

Catacombe di San Sebastiano

The most accessible of all underground galleries are the four-level catacombs of St. Sebastian. Located at: Via Appia Antica, 136, they survived much worse than the rest. Once in the labyrinths buried their loved ones pagans, and by the end of the II century the consecrated necropolis becomes Christian. St. Sebastian, who defied the emperor Diocletian, died in 298, and after the burial of his remains, they received their current name before the nameless catacombs of Rome.

How to get to the unique tunnels in which religious assemblies were once held during the persecution of Christians? You can get to them on city buses under numbers 118 and 218, and you need to get off at the Cecilia Metella stop.

Attractive for tourists underground cemeteries

Tourists who have visited the underground galleries admit that it is difficult for them to describe the whole range of feelings at the sight of tombstones that appeared many centuries ago.

Gloomy deserted corridors, in which there is always quiet, bring to mind the imminent death, but the mysterious labyrinths that store many secrets, still attract visitors who love the thrill. In the untouched by the modern catacombs of ancient Rome, everyone will touch the distant early Christian times.