Excavations near completion, Vatican necropolis will offer public new views of ancient site

After two years of excavations, the Necropolis of the Via Triumphalis, on the northeastern side of the Vatican hill, will open to the public again next year, the Vatican has announced. 

The necropolis contains tombs that date back to the 1st century BC, and the excavations have allowed greater access to tombs, mosaics, sarcophagi, statues, and frescoes from that era and the early centuries of the Christian era. 

With walkways and a multimedia exhibit, the necropolis is now “an excavation laboratory, open to the public,” said Antonio Paolucci, the director of the Vatican Museums.