The most interesting tomb from my point of view actually, is, a tomb that is located,
a Roman tomb of the 2nd century, that is located beneath the Vatican, today.
And I show you a view again of the dome.
Of St. Peters Cathedral in Rome designed by Michelangelo himself.
Another view over here showing also Michelangelo's dome.
But showing below
it the so called baldacchino that was put up
by the famous seventeenth-century Italian architect Borromini, Francesco Borromini.
The the cathedral of St Peter's, and any of you who've been there will agree with
me on this, is one of the great wonders of the world, there's no question it is.
You want to talk about bigger is better or biggest is
best [LAUGH] this is a truly colossal buildings, and if you
have been there, know.
But it does give me occasion to mention,
as I've mentioned a couple of times already this
term, that one of the really great things to
do when you visit Rome is to climb things.
Is to climb.
If you're so lucky to climb Column of Trajan or the Pantheon
up to the dome, those you have to get special permission to do.
But what you don't need special permission to do, and one is, and
is one of the great climbs in Rome, is to go up St. Peter's.
And you can go up St. Peter's either
on the outside of the building, to various levels
from which you can see some of the greatest
views of Rome, including back over central Rome, ancient
Rome, all the buildings that we've been talking about.
You can see the dome of the Pantheon from the top of St. Peter's.
You can see the Victor Emmanuel monument, tall
and proud, from the dome of St. Peter's.
But you can also climb up to the, to the dome from the inside.
Which is a, another extraordinary experience.
You can go almost, not quite, but almost to to the apex of Michelangelo's dome.
Walk around a corridor there and look down on Bernini's Baldacchino.
So for those of you who are going to Rome
any time soon or in the future it's a, it's
a not to be missed experience, to climb the Cathedral
of St Peters on the outside, and also on the inside.
I bring you to St.
Peter's because one can also go down underneath St. Peters and
that's another very interesting experience to go down in the depths.
Beneath Saint Peter's and get a really great sense
of the centuries of civilization that had been piled one
on top of another from ancient Rome or from the
time of Romulus, indeed, all the way up to today.
And in order to see the Tomb of the Caetennii which is the tomb that I want
to turn to now.
You do have to go down underneath Saint Peter's.
You, you have to, this is something you can't just walk in,
you can climb, you can climb Saint Peter's any day of the week.
But, if you want to go underneath
Saint Peter's, you have to make special arrangements.
You have to get special tickets to do that, and
now one can do that online, you can plan that online.
And you can get tickets to go
to the so called Vatican cemetaries underneath, underneath.
And they don't
have them, they have small number of hours on variety of days.
So it is something one needs to plan for well in advance.
But you can do it.
You go to the left of the Baldacchino, you
go down, and you go down century upon century.
You see primarily the tombs of the popes, the
crypts with the tombs of the popes, and I show
you Pope Boniface here, just to give you an
idea of what some of these look like, lying in,
eternity here, on the top of his, sarcophagus, or a,
a sculptured portrait of him on the top of his sarcophagus.
But if you go all the way down.
All the way down and most tourists don't do this.
But you go all the way to the bottom, what
you end up with is one of Rome's great tomb streets.
And this tomb street was out in the light of
day, of course, in antiquity like all the other tomb streets.
But because of the passage of time
because other buildings that were built on top,
primarily the cathedral at Saint Peter's and just the,
the rising ground level over time it now is
is, it is subterranean, but when you, it's amazing.
You go down.
You walk along it. It is like you are walk.
I mean, it's a dark street but nonthele, I wouldn't want
to, I wouldn't want to record [LAUGH] in that in that street.
But you go down under.
It's a dark street but it is.
You feel like you are walking along a
major tomb street in Rome, and indeed you are.
And I show you a plan of it here, so that you can
see, it is very much like walking along the tomb street in Isola Sacra.
You see at your left and right these these concrete brick faced tombs that look very
much like the Tomb of Annia Regilla or the ones that we saw in Isola Sacra.
Typical house tombs of the second century AD.
