Tomb sights in Rome
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A
Catacombe di San Callisto
These are the largest, most famous and busiest of Rome’s catacombs. Founded at the end of the 2nd century and named after Pope Calixtus I, they became the official cemetery of the newly established Roman Church. In the 20km of tunnels explored to date, archaeologists have found the tombs of 500,000 people and seven popes who were martyred in the 3rd century. The patron saint of music, St Cecilia, was also buried here, though her body was later removed to the Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. When her body was exhumed in 1599, over 1000 years after her death, it was apparently perfectly preserved, as depicted in Stefano Moderno’s softly contoured sculpture, a repl…
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B
Mausoleo delle Fosse Ardeatine
This moving mausoleum is dedicated to the victims of Rome’s worst WWII atrocity. Buried here, outside the Ardeatine Caves, are 335 Italians shot by the Nazis on 24 March 1944. Following the massacre, ordered in reprisal for a partisan attack, the Germans used mines to explode sections of the caves and bury the bodies. After the war, the bodies were exhumed, identified and reburied in a mass grave at the site, now marked by a huge concrete slab and sculptures. At the site there is also a tiny museum dedicated to the Italian resistance to the German occupation.
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C
Mausoleo di Cecilia Metella
Dating to the 1st century BC, this great drum of a mausoleum encloses a burial chamber (built for the daughter of the consul Quintus Metellus Creticus) that is now roofless. The walls are made of travertine and the rather sorry-looking interior is decorated with a sculpted frieze featuring Gaelic shields, ox skulls and festoons. In the 14th century it was converted into a fort by the Caetani family, who used to threaten passing traffic into paying a toll. Beyond the tomb is a picturesque section of the actual ancient road, excavated in the mid-19th century.
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D
Catacombe di Priscilla
Stretching for some 13km, these creepy catacombs boast the oldest known image of the Madonna, dated at early 2nd century. Something of high-society burial ground – several popes were buried here between 309 and 555 – they retain quite a lot of their original decoration. Particularly impressive is the Cappella Greca funerary chapel with its fine stucco decoration and some well-preserved late-3rd-century biblical frescoes.
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E
Tomb of St Peter
Excavations beneath the St.Peter's Basilica, which began in 1940, have uncovered part of the original church and what archaeologists believe is the Tomb of St Peter. In 1942, the bones of an elderly, strongly built man were found in a box hidden behind a wall covered by pilgrims’ graffiti. After more than 30 years of forensic examination, in 1976, Pope Paul VI declared the bones to be those of St Peter.
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F
Catacombe di Santa Domitilla
Among Rome’s largest and oldest, these catacombs stretch for about 17km. They were established on the private burial ground of Flavia Domitilla, niece of Emperor Domitian and a member of the wealthy Flavian family. They contain Christian wall paintings and the underground Chiesa di SS Nereus e Achilleus, a 4th-century church dedicated to two Roman soldiers who were martyred by Diocletian.
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G
Piramide di Caio Cestio
Sticking out like, well, an Egyptian pyramid, this distinctive landmark stands in the Aurelian Wall at the side of a massive traffic junction. A 36m-high marble-and-brick tomb, it was built for Gaius Cestius, a 1st-century-BC magistrate, and some 200 years later was incorporated into the Aurelian fortification near Porta San Paolo. The surrounding area is today known as Piramide.
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H
Vatican Grottoes
The Vatican Grottoes contain the tombs of numerous popes, including John Paul II, whose simple sepulchre contrasts starkly with many of the flamboyant monuments in the basilica above. You can also see several huge columns from the original 4th-century basilica. The entrance is through the right side of the portico.
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