Christiana Loca: lo spazio cristiano nella Roma del primo millennio
Rome, September 5th through November 15th
Complesso S. Michele a Ripa (ex Cacere Minorile)
Ministero per I Beni e le Attivita? Culturali
Via di San Michele, 25
Information about opening hours and tours:
Alpha International
Tel. +39/06/3250449
Fax: +39/06/3222038

The exhibit "Christiana Loca" (Christian Space in Rome during the first Christian Millennium) is shown at the Istituto San Michele in Trastevere through November 15th. It illustrates the places and practices sacred to Christianity in Rome and their influence over the shaping of the city from ancient metropolis into Medieval Europe's most revered pilgrim's shrine.

The exhibit is divided into two sections: the city inside and outside of the ancient city walls. The first section, "extra moenia", focuses on burial places and traditional activities surrounding the cult of the dead in Roman times. The discussion is illustrated by a collection of small artifacts found in the catacombs outside Rome, in addition to several epigraphic tablets which sealed the loculi-type burials most commonly found in these underground burial galleries.

A discussion on the development of the great catacomb complexes such as Calixtus, Domitilla and Priscilla from their origins as a series of small burial hypogaea dispersed over the suburban estates into the extensive subterranean cemeteries for Rome's growing Christian community during the course of the fourth century also includes information about recent excavations in the cemeteries 'sub divo?, on the surface. These have revealed the origins of several the semi-hypogeal martyr's shrines and the existence of mausoleums and large churches shaped like the racetracks of a Roman circus in the Christian cemeteries above the catacombs.

The most detailed part of the first section is dedicated to the "borghi", suburban communities developed around the principal pilgrimage centers near Rome. This is an impressive attempt to describe a phenomenon of which little remains today in public view (in contrast to the catacombs). Sources reveal that in the areas surrounding the basilicas of Saint Paul, Saint Peter and Saint Laurence, hospices, diaconia, bathing complexes, monasteries, churches and more were built to cater to the pilgrims journeying to the shrines of the apostles and martyrs. The political considerations which motivated the development of these areas is considered using the prime example of Saint Peters in the Vatican, and in particular the evidence from epigraphical texts celebrating the construction and restoration of the Leonine Wall. Christiana Loca's second section is dedicated to the Chrisitanization of urban space within Rome. It uses as its guide the VIIIth century itinerary from the monastery of Einsiedeln which navigated pilgrims through the monuments of the ancient city towards the numerous Christian sites dedicated to the memory of the saints.

Principal to this section are the individual studies on the origins of tituli, churches in the areas of the Imperial forums and urban cemeteries which broke an ancient taboo against burial within a city's walls. This topographical study of Rome's churches should be accompanied by a visit to the Museo Nazionale Romano's Crypta Balbi which likewise pays close attention to the Einsiedeln Itinerary to distinguish the ancient from the medieval city but also benefits from a richer collection of archaeological artifacts to make the intimate connection between Rome's past and its modern visitor. "Christiana Loca" however, succeeds in bringing the results of recent historical and archaeological studies on Christian Rome to the attention of the modern pilgrim to Rome during the Jubilee.

Catalogue (2 volumes) with the same title as that of the exhibit is published by the Fratelli Palombi Editori, Rome.

Contributed by Jessica Dello Russo