The Vatican: the Via Triumphalis necropolis

The Necropolis of the Via Triumphalis reopens to the public in January 2014, following excavation works which have lasted two years and which have made it possible to unite the two sectors of the burial ground, previously separated. The necropolis, which extends from the north-easterly part of the Vatican hill, covers an area of 1000 square metres containing tombs, mosaics, mouldings and frescoes, which date from the first century before Christ to the fourth century of our era.

Pope Francis, who has nearly 3.5 million followers on Twitter and routinely makes headlines for doing things like inviting atheists to join the cause for peace in his Christmas message, is widely viewed as reinvigorating the scandal-plagued, conservative-leaning Roman Catholic Church. (Just ask Time magazine, which last month named him the 2013 Person of the Year.) The first South American pope is so popular that the Vatican is anticipating record pilgrim attendance at its celebrations this year. Well over a million visitors are expected in April when Holy Week will be followed by the canonization of John XXIII and John Paul II. Services commemorating the new saints will continue throughout the year. In 2014, the faithful can also enjoy the fruits of restorations that have taken years, like that of Bernini’s colonnade in St. Peter’s Square and the reopening of the Via Triumphalis necropolis, a vast ancient Roman cemetery first uncovered in the 1950s. And pilgrims can stay up-to-date on news and events, including restorations and exhibitions, thanks to the Pope’s new mobile app.

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-Info/Eventi/2013/MV_Info_Evento16.html

http://visnews-en.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-necropolis-of-via-triumphalis.html

http://www.romeguide.it/monumenti/antica/viatriumphalis/viatriumphaliseng.html

The new section of the Roman necropolis of the Via Triumphalis was discovered during the construction of the new parking lot of Santa Rosa in the Vatican City State, will be presented to public.

The excavations of this new important area were conducted by archaeologists of the Vatican Museums, which brought to light a conspicuous section of the necropolis, which turned out to be the continuation of the section that had already been discovered in the 1950’s. This area is known as the “Necropoli dell’Autoparco” as it was discovered during the construction of the Autoparco vaticano.

The two burial sites, together with the nearby Sections of the “Galea” and the “Annona” constitute part of a large necropolis positioned along the ancient Via Triumphalis, a road which led from Rome to Veio (Isola Farnese) passing through Monte Mario. Thanks to this last discovery, two of the most complete and documented necropolises of Imperial Rome are now accessible in the Vatican City. One being along the Via Cornelia, which can be visited from the excavations below Basilica where S. Peter’s tomb is located, and the other along the Via Triumphalis.

The excavations have brought to light approximately forty burial structures of small and medium sizes, as well as over two hundred single tombs arranged on multiple levels, and marked by memorial stones, stele, altars and tombstones often containing inscriptions. Such epigraphical material is of great historical-social interest and importance. The majority of the tombs are in a good state of preservation and are dateable between the end of the 1st century B.C. and the beginning of the 4th century A.D., more or less from the Augustan age up to the Constantinian age. Some of the structures present interesting wall decorations in fresco and stucco and mosaic floors.

In addition, funerary altars, urns, and sarcophagi with figures in bas-relief have been discovered. Of particular interest is the sarcophagus of the young member of the equestrian order Publius Caesilius Victorinus ( 270-290 A.D.), which presents the figure of an orant female standing next a tree where a bird is roosting on. Such iconography appears to bring the deceased in a Christian realm, in a time which previous to the Constantinian peace (Editto di Milano 313 A.D.).