The Underworld of Rome: Treasures of the Catacombs. Roman catacombs - mysteries of underground tombs

The catacombs are rightfully one of the most interesting places burials in Italy. Of course, the catacombs of Rome are considered the best of them. It was here that for many centuries labyrinths of underground tunnels were used to bury thousands of bodies. by the most famous place These underground burials are considered to be the Old Appian Way. It was this area, located outside the city of Rome, that was used as a place for the burial of pagans and the first Christians.

History of occurrence

On the Appian Way are the catacombs of St. Callistus, which were built in the middle of the 2nd century and are today one of the largest and most important in Rome. They are named after the deacon Callisto, who in 199 was appointed caretaker and keeper of the first official cemetery of the Church of Rome. During the twenty years that Callisto was in charge of the cemetery, he significantly expanded and improved the main directions of the dungeon.
In the third century, Callisto was chosen as the new pope. After his death, the cemetery was named in his honor, and Callisto himself was elevated to the rank of saints. It is noteworthy that he himself is not among the popes buried here.

Architecture

From the 2nd to the 4th centuries, when Christianity was not accepted as a religion and there were terrible persecutions against the main adherents, the catacombs were used only for burials, and it is this period that is characterized by simple, uncomplicated tablets and inscriptions. And most of the burials of that period are rather simple tombs, decorated with simple carvings. Starting from the 4th century in the following years, Pope Damasius was able to get Christianity recognized as the state religion from Emperor Theodosius, and decided to restore these catacombs. When the persecution ended, the inscriptions became much more common, many frescoes and mosaics appeared. Now, not only the name of the person was written on the tomb, but also a picture was drawn depicting his profession. So in the catacombs of St. Callistus, you can see images of bakers, carpenters, tailors, teachers, lawyers, doctors, civil servants, military and other drawings that clearly display a particular profession. For a long time the catacombs were not only a place of burial, but also a place of pilgrimage. The crypt was abandoned only after the relics and relics of the saints contained in it were transferred to various churches in Rome. The final wave of translations from the crypt took place during the reign of Pope Sergius II in the 9th century.
Interest in the catacombs revived only in the 15th century. Or only in the 19th century they were again evaluated as holy places and considered the main treasury of Christianity. Thanks to the founder of modern Christian archeology, Giovanni Battista de Rossi, in 1854 the catacombs of St. Callistus were discovered and carefully examined.
Today, there are about half a million different burials in the catacombs. In general, the area of ​​the catacombs is about 15 hectares of land, 20 km long. The maximum depth of the catacombs reaches 20 meters.
At the entrance to the catacombs, you can see the crypt, which is called the "Little Vatican", it is here that 9 popes and 8 church dignitaries are buried.
Next comes the crypt of St. Cecilia, who is considered the patroness of sacred music. The remains of this saint were transferred to the church as early as 821. But today you can see a beautiful sculpture here, the work of Stefano Moderno, who thus decided to immortalize the incorruptible body of a dead girl.

Note to the tourist

The catacombs are closed on Wednesdays and in February. On other days they are open from 9:00 to 12:00; from 14:00 to 17:00.

For many centuries in Italy, for the burial of adherents of the pagan faith and the first Christians, catacombs of rome located outside the city on the Appian Way. Here in the middle of the second century were built Catacombs of Saint Callistus, which today are considered the largest and most important in Rome. In 119, the deacon Callisto was appointed caretaker and keeper of the first cemetery of the church of Rome, after whom the catacombs are named. Over the course of 20 years, he expanded and improved the layout of the dungeon. Callisto, who became pope in the 3rd century, was canonized after his death, and the cemetery was named after him, despite the fact that Callisto is not among the popes who are buried here.

Historical and architectural value

During the period when Christianity was not accepted as the state religion, terrible persecutions were carried out against its adherents. The architecture of the underground burials of this period is characterized by uncomplicated inscriptions and tablets; the burials look like simple tombs, decorated with a monotonous carved pattern. Later, during the reign of Pope Damasius, when, on his initiative, Emperor Theodosius recognized Christianity as the state religion, it was decided to restore the catacombs. The end of Christian persecution was clearly reflected in the architecture of the burials: various mosaics and frescoes appeared, the inscriptions became more voluminous and widespread. On the tombs, not only the names of people were noted, but also pictures depicting the scope of their activities were depicted. Drawings depicting various professions - civil servants, lawyers, teachers, doctors, carpenters - have become an architectural feature. Catacombs of Saint Callistus. In those distant times, the catacombs were not only a burial place, they represented huge interest for many pilgrims. By the 9th century, during the reign of Pope Sergius II, the relics of the saints and relics from the underground were transferred to Roman churches and the crypt was abandoned.

Revival of the Treasury of Christianity

Many centuries passed until, in the 15th century, interest in the amazing underground labyrinths revived again and visits by pilgrims resumed. FROM early XIX centuries, the catacombs began to be considered the main treasury of Christianity, evaluating them as holy places for worship. 1854 - the year of discovery and careful research catacombs of rome undertaken by the founder of the archeology of early Christianity, Giovanni de Rossi. Catacombs with an area of ​​up to 15 hectares, a total length of up to 20 kilometers and maximum depth, reaching 20 meters, include up to half a million graves. “Little Vatican” is the name of the crypt located at the entrance to the catacombs, where popes and church dignitaries are buried. Behind the crypt you can see the crypt of Saint Cecilia, the patroness of sacred music, whose remains were found here in 821. This is a vast room in which the sarcophagus of the saint is located. In the crypt there is a copy of the sculpture depicting Saint Cecilia by Stefano Moderno.

The catacombs of St. Callistus in Rome are not only a historical monument of underground architecture, but also a museum of Christian mosaics, symbols and paintings that were born in those historical times, which acquaint numerous visitors from all over the world with the traditions, rites and rituals of the early Christian Roman community.

There are more than 40 catacobmas, the length of underground corridors of which is about 500 km! The exact number of burials is not known, but it is believed that about a million people were buried! The deepest tunnel is in the catacombs of St. Callists - 25 meters! The catacombs of St. Sebastian, St. Callists and Catacombs of Domitilla. All catacombs are under the care of monks of various orders.

In ancient Rome, it was impossible to bury people within the city - inside the walls of the city. In addition, the Romans cremated their dead by building huge funeral pyres for their great men, like Gaius Julius Caesar. The early Christians, on the contrary, did not recognize the custom of cremation. They understood the resurrection from the dead literally and therefore buried their dead in niches, which were closed either with cypress or marble boards. Now all these niches are open and there are no human remains. You can see small recesses above the niches in which the lamps burned.

Near the Appian Way (via Appia Antica) there are three complexes of catacombs: St. Callistus, St. Sebastian and the catacombs of Domitilla. The very word "catacomb" originally referred only to the catacombs of St. Sebastian, a kind of network of wells, underground galleries of which were used for the first burials of Christians. With the spread of a new religion, in which the burial ritual involved wrapping the body in cloth and burying it in the earth, it became necessary to expand the network of underground corridors for tens of kilometers. Sometimes they served people as a shelter from dangers. Roman pagans never descended into them, considering the catacombs to be the sanctuary of Christians.

The Romans did not know the word "catacombs"; they called them "cemeterium" - "chambers". Only one of the cemeteries, Saint Sebastian, was called "katacumbas" (from the Greek "deepening"). In the Middle Ages, only she was known, so since then all underground burials have been called catacombs.

Catacombs of St. Callista - the official cemetery of the Roman bishops, named after Pope Callista, who expanded and put them in order. Ardeatian graves, where 335 Italians are buried, shot by the Germans during the Second World War.

On the street of the Seven Churches are the Catacombs of Domitilla, bearing the name of the wife of Flavius ​​Clementius buried there. Let's go back to the Appian Way to see the catacombs and the church of St. Sebastian. In the three-tier catacombs there is a bust of the saint by the sculptor Bernini. Inside the church is the Albani chapel, the chapel of St. Sebastian and the chapel with holy relics. Further on are the Jewish Catacombs and the Pretextatus Catacombs, where pagan and Christian tombs are located.

On the Appian Way, the catacombs of St. Callistus are the first to be located - the most ancient place Christian burials in Rome. They are especially revered, as here are the graves of almost all the popes of the III century. This is a grandiose complex, located on four levels. Here we must turn Special attention on the papal crypt and the crypt of St. Cecilia, in which the body of a young girl miraculously survived intact.

The nearby catacombs of St. Sebastian are the only ones open to pilgrims at all times. The entrance to them begins in the Basilica of St. Sebastian, built in the 4th century, but which has come down to us in a converted form (architects Flaminio Ponzio and Giovanni Vasanzio). The catacombs are located in several tiers. Noteworthy is Geon's cubiculum with frescoes from the end of the 4th century. Let us also mention the so-called Roman villa with architectural naturalistic decorations.

Our gaze is suddenly struck by a piazzola that appears at the intersection of narrow corridors. Facades of three mausoleums overlook it, which were used at first by pagans as urns for ashes, and then by Christians as graves for burials. Numerous wall inscriptions of believers are interesting.

They say that if you stretch all the Roman catacombs in one line, then it will be longer than the entire coast of Italy.

The entrance to the catacombs of Domitilla opens through the Basilica of Saints Hiereus and Achilles, completely destroyed in 1874 and then restored. A wonderful garden adjoins the basilica. In these catacombs, the cubiculum of Veneranda deserves attention first of all. The frescoes decorating the walls are distinguished by their extraordinary intensity and luminosity, and can be distinguished even by candlelight.

Charles Dickens, in Pictures from Italy, described his impressions of visiting the catacombs of St. Sebastian (the only ones known in the 1840s): An emaciated Franciscan monk with a wild burning gaze was our only guide in these deep and creepy dungeons. Narrow passages and openings in the walls, going in one direction or another, combined with stale, heavy air, soon forced out any memory of the path we walked ... We passed between the graves of martyrs for the faith: we walked along long vaulted underground roads, diverging in all directions and blocked in some places by stone blockages ... Graves, graves, graves!

The graves of men, women and their children who ran out to meet the persecutors, shouting: “We are Christians! We are Christians!” to be killed along with their parents; graves with a palm tree of martyrdom roughly carved on stone faces; small niches carved into the rock to store a vessel with the blood of a holy martyr; the graves of some of them who lived here for many years, leading the rest and preaching truth, hope and comfort at rough altars so strong that they stand there now; large and even more terrible graves, where hundreds of people, taken by surprise by their pursuers, were surrounded and tightly walled up, buried alive and slowly died of starvation.

The triumph of faith is not there, on earth, not in our magnificent churches, - said the Franciscan, looking around at us when we stopped to rest in one of the low aisles, where bones and dust surrounded us from all sides, - her triumph is here, in the midst of the martyrs for faith!

Address: Catacombs of St. Callixtus, Via Appia Antica, 110/126, 00179 Roma, Italy.
Opening hours: daily from 09:00 to 12:00 and from 14:00 to 17:00.
Day off - Wednesday.
Entrance fee: 8 EUR.

You can talk endlessly about Rome who survived many bright events in his lifetime, beautiful and tragic, but every time, like a Phoenix bird that managed to be reborn from the ashes, remain just as proud and indestructible. There is another Rome, invisible and unknown to many, lying right under your feet, where an entire era is reflected in each layer. To touch it centuries of history, hidden under thousands of acres of land, one should make a way to the underworld ...

What the dungeons "told" about

Roman catacombs- the most amazing monument that conveys the history of Christians of three centuries from the birth of Christ. For long centuries they were forgotten. And only in the middle of the XIX century. they were accidentally discovered by an Italian archaeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi.
Trying to find objects of ancient Christians, he came across a piece of marble slab with the inscription "Cornelius the Martyr". The find was carefully examined. It turned out to be part of a tombstone from the grave of the pontiff Cornelius, who lived in the III century. after the birth of Christ. Tortured to death in 253, he was buried in a countryside cave. This was the beginning of the search for ancient burials.
Now it has been possible to open about 60 such burials. The origin of the word "catacombs" is attributed to the name of the area where the cemetery was located. There is no confirmation of this, but all the tombs received this name. Ancient city literally surrounded by them. If stretched out in a single row, their length would exceed 500 km. The first appeared in the pre-Christian period.
The Romans more often burned the dead outside the city limits. Christians, adopting the Jewish custom, betrayed them to the ground. This is how Lazarus, resurrected by the Lord, was buried; after Golgotha, they laid Christ wrapped in a shroud in the cave. The dead were laid in a niche, a slab was laid on top. Some graves were distinguished by the installed stone sarcophagi. The catacombs were given the names of the great martyrs.
Time passed, grottoes occupied large area, becoming intricate deep labyrinths interconnected narrow passages. During the period of persecution of Christians, the abodes of the dead became a safe shelter for the living. In the deep bowels of the earth, the first temples were formed, where the ancient believers ate spiritual food. The Resurrection of the Lord gave confidence in the absence of death and great hope for eternal cloudless life. The burial places of people who have taken a step into eternity have become for the living the door to the kingdom of heaven.

Meaningful wall paintings

Walls in the dungeons were painted with various frescoes. They were the first masterpieces of ancient Christian art. Despite the persecution, the images do not have scenes of martyrdom, and the epitaphs are devoid of traces of resentment, although most died at the hands of the persecutors. There are only words that call to the Almighty.
Intertwined plots of the Old Testament with numerous gospel images convey to posterity the concept of good and evil, show the difference between truth and lies, life and death. Depicted Adam and Eve, who committed original sin, are located next to a white lily flower - a symbol of purity. The soul that truly cognized God was symbolically depicted as a bird. with a look, full of love, looks from the walls of Christ in the guise of a shepherd, carrying a lamb on his shoulders, symbolizing the lost human soul. The Son of God was painted with a vine, where the branches are those who believed in him. His words: "I am the true vine, and my father is the vinedresser," call to follow him. Symbolic images were firmly entrenched in the art of all subsequent centuries.
Emperor Constantine the Great, by his decree of 313 on the recognition of the Christian religion, freed believers from oppression. The prayerful chanting of the Lord was transferred from the dungeon to the spacious vaults of ground-based bright temples.

The largest burials

The largest underground tombs of the capital are rightfully recognized as the catacombs of St. Callistus, located on the Appian Way, along which the Roman legionnaires once went for another victory, where the Apostle Peter met Christ. Here is the stone tomb of Romulus - the Roman Cain, who killed his twin brother. With a length of 20 km, they contain 170 thousand burials. Visited today are four of them.
When the persecution became a thing of the past, there was no need to sneak to the dead. Pontifex Damasius built a staircase to access the tombs. In the lower part of the hallways, the Good Shepherd meets, reminding of the freedom of choice given to everyone living on earth. He is ready to lend a helping hand to a lost person.

Crypt pap

It is considered the center, which was surrounded, growing, by others. In the III century. turned into a tomb for bishops. The room is rectangular in shape, quite spacious, supported by columns with beautiful carved capitals holding the vault. Nine metropolitan pontiffs and eight nonresident pontiffs found peace here. Six names remained: Pontian, who graduated life path in the mines, Anter - his successor, who died in the walls of the dungeon, Fabian, beheaded during the reign of Decius, Lucius and Eutychius. All of them were great martyrs. Their relics were transferred to different metropolitan churches, where they are preserved to this day.

Burial place of the martyr Cecilia

This is a fairly spacious room, having a niche on the left side, where her sarcophagus was installed. Paschal I decided to redirect her relics to the capital, but could not find her. Exhausted, in a dream he turned to her for help, the woman indicated the exact location. Only one wall separated him from the tomb. After that, the remains were safely transferred to the Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, dedicated to Cecilia. Being engaged in the reconstruction of the church, the sarcophagus was opened. The eyes did not believe the miracle they saw: the body was preserved incorrupt. After looking at the body, the amazed sculptor Stefano Maderno made a statue depicting Caecilia in the position in which she lay in the sarcophagus. The crypt contains a copy.
Why is she tortured to death? A native of a noble family young years believed in the teachings of Christ. She converted her husband to faith and brought to God many who believed in him, for which they decided to execute the woman. Having placed her in a hot bath, the tormentors wanted to kill her in such a terrible way, but three days later they found her alive. Then they decided to cut off the head. The executioner struck several blows, but could not immediately cut off. Being mortally wounded, half-dead, she continued to preach the faith of Christ, trying to convert those present to her. She succeeded.
A cross rises above her grave, around it two angels and three martyrs froze in sorrow: Polikam, Sebastian and Quirinus. There are also images of Christ and Pope Martyr Urban I.

Mystery Cubicles

Designed for one family, consisting of five compartments. There are well-preserved frescoes telling about the sacrament of baptism. The same rite performed by John the Baptist in the waters of the Jordan is displayed, striking the imagination with the power of faith. "Watching" the visitors Jonah, rescued from the belly of a huge fish. A staircase was installed here, along which the murdered bishops were secretly brought to rest.

Section of Blessed Miltiades

It adjoins the cubes of the Sacraments. Formed in the 2nd century, it became a connecting bridge leading to the crypt of Lucina - the resting place of the soul of Pope Martyr Cornelius. He is rarely mentioned in historical sources. He was too pontiff short term a little over two years. On the icons he is depicted with a cow horn, he is the patron saint of animals, he healed the unfortunate from many diseases. Here you can see the radiance of the phoenix, meaning the death of the flesh and eternal life in Christ, doves, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, a fish, a bird drinking from a cup, which personifies the soul that has found comfort in God.
People perceive these sacred places differently. For a cold person who has visited dark, damp vaults, they will remain so. A person who thinks and understands will produce completely different impressions. Numerous corridors will tell about a handful of people who passionately loved life, but died for their faith, blessing the Lord, praying for their enemies. Fate destined this handful to carry out the greatest revolution in the world - to destroy paganism. Their victory is in fiery love and fortitude. And with faith in the heart and great love everything is available to man.