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Pagan tomb under St. Peter’s Basilica reopened
The Vatican unveiled the largest and most luxurious of the pagan tombs in the necropolis under St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday after nearly a year of restoration work.
A section of the pagan Valeri tomb built during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
A family of former slaves built the Valeri Mausoleum during the second half of the second century, when Emperor Marcus Aurelius ruled. It is one of 22 pagan tombs in the grottoes under the basilica.
The newly restored tomb was shown to media Tuesday. Visitors can have a guided tour of the grottoes by appointment.
Emperor Constantine, a convert to Christianity, had the pagan burial grounds covered up in the fourth century so the basilica could be built over the site holding St. Peter’s tomb.
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