Rome's Mayor Virginia Raggi has condemned the damage at the city's largest cemetery as a 'cowardly act.' Both Catholic and Jewish headstones were among the monuments smashed.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/ANSA/M. Percossi
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The 70 damaged headstones and monuments were discovered by authorities on Friday who said both Catholic and Jewish headstones had been vandalized.
Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi wrote on Twitter "what happened to the Verano cemetery is a cowardly act."
Expressing concern for neighbors and families, Raggi said there should be immediate clarity in finding out what had happened.
Italian media said investigators suspect a group of youths had broken into the cemetery overnight and vandalized the tombstones, smashing glass-framed photographs of loved ones placed by the graves.
Surveillance cameras have recorded images of several young individuals entering the cemetery and running through it smashing the memorials.
Who was to blame?
The Rome Jewish Community said it was too soon to determine if anti-Semitism had been a motivation for the attack. "We are awaiting developments in the investigation by [law enforcement] to ascertain the causes and responsibility for this act," it said.
In February more than a hundred Jewish headstones were knocked over and damaged at a cemetery in Philadelphia and more than 170 headstones were knocked over in Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, a suburb of St Louis, Missouri. The same month, teenagers in France were arrested after 250 Jewish tombstones were damaged in Alsace.
In April, ten Jewish tombstones were smashed in the Romanian capital of Bucharest. That attack coincided with Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day. Three youths aged 13 to 16 were investigated, according to Bucharest police.
Roman catacombs unveiled after years of renovation
Tourists in Rome usually explore ancient catacombs located around the Via Appia Antica. Now, after decades of delays, two separate areas of a vast labyrinth of catacombs in the Italian capital have been unveiled.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Solaro
Ancient catacombs in Rome
The Domitilla catacombs are named after a member of the Roman family who commissioned the burial grounds. They form the largest burial sites in Rome, stretching over 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) and descending four levels with 26,250 tombs, dating from the second to the fifth centuries.
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Ancient and suburban Rome
Today, the Domitilla catacombs are situated in a modern residential area in suburban Rome, at the Via delle Sette Chiese. "In Rome, Christendom started to spread out from the outskirts of the city," explains Ortwin Dally, director of the German archaeological Institute.
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Former sacred places
Dally is referring to an entire network of catacombs underneath arterial roads like the Via Appia. Because Christians, compared to other Romans, chose to be buried in close proximity to saints, the catacombs were also used as sacred places.
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The roots of Rome
"These tombs represent the roots of our deepest identity, the roots of Rome and of Christianity," says Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the head of the pontifical commission. Monsignor Giovanni Carru of the Pontifical Commission of Sacred Art, who sponsored the renovation works adds: "These works show the difficult path the Romans walked on the way to their new faith."
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/A. Medichini
Pagan mythology and Christian faith
The now-renovated areas include frescoes from both pagan mythology and Christian faith, showing how intertwined the two were in the early Church. The new area also includes a small museum displaying statues, parts of sarcophagi and other artifacts from the tombs.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/A. Medichini
Looted art in the Middle Ages
The first area dates back to the third century and still has many references to pagan art. Its tombs show details with cupids, which were used for the smaller tombs, most likely belonging to children. Many of the crypts have frescoes that seem blotted out. In fact, they were stripped by "ripping," when catacombs were looted and frescoes cut out and removed as trophies in the Middle Ages.
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Importance of bread in Christian and pagan symbolism
In the second area, known as the "Dei fornai," the "room of the bakers," vivid depictions of Christ and the Apostles accompanied by scenes from the life of a baker are shown. Not only do they tell the story of life in Rome, but they highlight the importance of bread in both Christian and pagan symbolism.
Image: REUTERS/R. Casili
Development of Christian art
The small museum by the Domitilla catacombs showcases how Roman and early Christian art developed parallel to each other. "Christendom didn't invent anything from scratch, but reinterpreted existing forms of art instead," Ortwin Dally points out.
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New tourist site
Final touches still have to be put on the museum, which the organizers hope to open to the public by the end of June. It will be several months longer before the restored areas are opened. In the meantime, the rest of the vast archaeological site is open to visitors throughout the summer.
