🧿 Vatican Necropolis

The Vatican Necropolis is a necropolis that lies underneath Vatican City containing tombs dating from the first to fourth century AD, at depths varying between 5 and 12 metres below Saint Peter's Basilica. The Vatican sponsored archaeological excavations under Saint Peter's in the years 1940–1949, which revealed parts of a necropolis dating to the Roman Empire. It is the home to the Tomb of the Julii, which has been dated to the third or fourth century. The necropolis was not originally one of the Catacombs of Rome, but an open-air cemetery with tombs and mausolea.