Typology:
Catacombs
Address
Address:
Via Appia Antica, 110/126
Zone:
Quartiere Ardeatino (Roma sud)
Enter your starting address
Contacts
Telephone:
0039 06 51301580 - 06 5130151
Fax:
0039 06 51301567
Web site:
www.catacombe.roma.it/indice.html
Email:
scallisto@catacombe.roma.it
Opening times
Daily from 9.00 am - 12.00 pm and 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm;
Closed: Wednesday, January 1, Easter, December 25 and from January 26 to February 22, 2012.
Last admission 15 minutes before closing time
Information
Full:
€8.00
Guided Visit:
€0.00
Reduced:
€5.00
Concessions:
School groups, presenting a letter of introduction from their School;
Children from 7 to 15 years of age;
Soldiers and security forces in uniform or with identification card.
Free entrance:
Children up to the age of 6;
Professors, teachers and catechists accompanying students groups – one per 15 students allowed;
Students of the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology (with ID issued by the Pontificial Commission of Sacred Archaeology);
Priest and religious of the Order that manages the catacomb;
The disabled, with a carer;
Guides and drivers of groups paying full-price tickets . Tickets can not be transferred to others member of the group;
Members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard and of the Vatican Police Force currently serving.
Description
The Catacombs of San Callisto are the best known of the Roman catacombs and the first official underground burial site for early Christians, including many second- and third-century martyrs. It was probably Calixtus who was chiefly responsible for the Church becoming the legal owner of the cemeteries. Calixtus was appointed administrator of the cemetery which bears his name by pope Zephyrinus. In 217 he succeeded Zephyrinus as pope and five years later he died.
Excavations have revealed five different levels of loculi, niches where the bodies, wrapped in sheets, were placed in tiers. The openings to the loculi were closed with slabs of marble, but these have long since disappeared, as have any artifacts of value. A major attraction is the papal crypt with the remains of several martyred early popes. Nearby, with its Byzantine frescoes, is the Cubiculum of St. Cecilia, whose body was discovered here by Pope Paschal I and moved to Santa Cecilia in Trastever. Other cubicles have frescoes and Christian symbols carved on the walls. In the crypt of St. Eusebius is a sarcophagus containing two mummified bodies.
Educational activities
Visitors follow a guide in their own language, without any further recompense, but in time of great flow, groups of the same language, arriving at the same time, will be joined together in the grounds above the catacombs.There they receive a full introduction to the Catacombs of Saint Callixtus (history, symbols, crypts and galleries, frescoes and inscriptions). Then they will be accompanied underground, without stopping for further explanations, through the crypts and galleries.We cannot satisfy the request for a longer visit and further explanations underground nor can we take different routes.The visit (introduction beforehand and the walk through the Catacombs) will last about 30/40 minutes.
It is not necessary – even if advisable - to book in advance the mere visit of a group. Please contact us in time, when the group consists of more than 50 people.
Booking is required for the celebration of Holy Mass.
Services
» Multilingual guided visits
» Point of Sale for Souvenirs, Books and Postcards
Last checked:
2011-10-24 9:23