Explore the Vatican's newest necropolis!

The Vatican Museums just opened a new site: a necropolis on the slopes of Mons Vaticanus, along the Via Triumphalis. A portion of the site was excavated during the creation of the S. Rosa carpark in the 1950s. Excavations continued in the early 2000s, doubling the size of the excavation site. Today, a new entrance has been created in the Vatican Walls for the public to access the unique site. Darius was there at the inauguration. Take a look at an incredibly well-preserved necropolis and on- site museum!
Special thanks to ‪@MuseiVaticaniMv‬ for the special invitation to the site!
0:00 Introduction
1:36 A brief history of the site
2:33 A site tour
4:59 A look at some special finds
6:15 What makes this site so special
Keep up with the adventures of Darius Arya, the archaeologist with access. Ancient history in real life! And great ready for a lot more travel: Jordan, Egypt, Croatia, and more!
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[@marijaokic2427]

Hello from Serbia. During the last year archeologist were conducting extensive exploration of the necropolis of Jagodin Mala which is dated to the period of late antiquity and is located in the city of Niš - Roman Naissus. It is estimated that it is a site of great importance , but there are problems with its preservation since it has been designated to be a construction site. As I am watching this video, I can see similarities between the sites and I hope that an agreement will be reached for Jagodin Mala to be preserved and one day made available for the public in this same manner.

[@DariusArya]

All over the world, urbanization is one of the greatest threats to sites. Excavations are an added cost to a construction site- and the end result isn't always in favor of the archaeology, unfortunately. the Vatican site has had its own issues, but the final result is quite impressive. There has to be the resolve to spend the time and money to document and preserve!

[@ericastier1646]

This is stunning, why do we admire antique civilization so much, because we recognize they had an elevation of the mind, of spiritual understanding of life through art and classical architecture that we are loosing fast.

[@philiphanes7437]

Thank you for recognizing the issue of what remains should be on display in general. It's usually overlooked.

[@DariusArya]

It’s an issue, to be sure!

[@mikeg1323]

It's truly remarkable just what secrets the Vatican holds... It's truly endless....

[@NSGca]

Absolutely remarkable that this has been preserved so well. Ty for the heads up!

[@richardglady3009]

Wonderful video. Thank you for its creation and posting.

[@cyndydejoy6129]

Thanks so much Darius. Absolutely fascinating, shows so much respect for those who have passed before us. It is really a beautiful presentation. Looking forward to seeing you next year! Happy holidays to you and your family, thanks for a great year!

[@TWOCOWS1]

Fantastic, Darius, just fantastic. Thank you for being so alert to all new discoveries and opening of new venues. You are extraordinary. Thank you.

[@DariusArya]

Wow, thank you!

[@TWOCOWS1]

@@DariusArya Actually, thank YOU! I miss Rome and can't travel there. So, I follow you as my "eyes and ears." Excellent.

[@megansfo]

Darius, thank you for letting us see this! Im fascinated by pagan Rome! But the feeling of this place all those centuries ago must hace been similar to the urban columbarium I visited in Oaxaca during a day of the dead celebration. Noise, music, food booths, and people strolling everywhere. Life and death together.

[@DariusArya]

Definitely the necropolis was a big part of Roman life.

[@Thyalwaysseek]

Rome was never Pagan, the Vatican just calls anything not aligned with their interpretation of the Scriptures as Pagan.

[@yul498]

Thank you Darius, for a new amazing video. I'm so exciting to watching this. It's amazing.

[@DariusArya]

Thanks - it’s really worth a visit!

[@bfranklin3777]

Amazing! For those who missed it it's called Necropolis of the Via Triumphalis

[@edwardmiessner6502]

Or, the Triumphal Way City of the Dead, for those who don't know Latin.

[@CenturyHomeProject]

I’m glad that they left the remains where they were found. At the end of the day this is the gravesite and should be respected. Thank you so much for showing this! New fan and new subscriber!

[@DariusArya]

Thanks for watching!

[@edwardmiessner6502]

Seeing the inside walls of some tombs and to see how clean and nicely painted they are in full soectrum light, you have to give the painters credit for all they had to go by were hand-held flame torches!

[@DariusArya]

Great point!

[@martinemjt]

thank you for the visit. fascinating.

[@RTD3]

My wife and I will be in Rome in February. This is a must-see, thanks!!

[@marquese1960]

I'm amazed that there are still incinerated remains still intact...very interesting to see.

[@DariusArya]

Yes it’s incredible to see!

[@kalnwi2023]

I got scared !

[@eclipsed017]

Incredible, wow!!

[@neuroman04]

Thank you for sharing!

[@brober]

Fantastico! Have been to the Scavi under the altar of St. Peter's . Can't wait to see this new excavation. Grazie mille Prof. Arya.

[@wizzardofpaws2420]

You always bring us the coolest places!

[@wlnegrini]

Amazing! Thanks for the video and information.

[@DariusArya]

thanks!

[@erikvanniekerk478]

@@DariusArya Great work Darius! (Will part be Etruscan??) Curious! Take care Darius!

[@brunoantony9257]

very cool thanks for this update

[@DariusArya]

Any time!

[@FatherJMarcelPortelli]

Thank you for this video. I recently toured the original scavi tour under St. Peter's Basilica. The guide was excellent, and you can see St. Peter's tomb (which is directly below the high altar in the Basilica). Highly recommended!

[@DariusArya]

Glad you enjoyed it! YEs the famous Scavi tour is well worth a visit!

[@nailsdeb]

Fascinating!! Thank you 🙏 Our common humanity amazes me. I’ve been teaching myself how to bake sourdough bread lately 😊all I see are the ovens . 😮👍🇨🇦

[@edwardmiessner6502]

Ovens in the city of the dead! 😖 Why does that remind me of the Holocaust?

[@dang5469]

Thank-you Darius for the very informative video.

[@DariusArya]

Glad it was helpful!

[@auntiear126]

We were so lucky to visit on two occasions in the past. It’s an amazing experience.

[@user-uz2op6og3l]

Awesome!

[@nancytestani1470]

So cool..amazing

[@DariusArya]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@isoldavilaresau5390]

I was there long time ago. Of course was time (late even) to open to the general public, but I must say it was more impressive in its ancient aspect. It's the price to pay, and for who never visited before is priceless.

[@robertafierro5592]

I LOVE stuff like this!

[@logiman]

Amazing! It makes me wonder how much is undiscovered and probably never will be due to a city being built on top of it.

[@DariusArya]

YES

[@alessandrom7181]

Most of Italy is like that not only Rome.

[@f87115]

There will be cities built on top of us

[@Podzzy]

@@f87115 Yes, but today at least there are technologies that allow us to preserve memory that obviously weren't there hundreds of years ago.

[@Kinsale1333]

It took a lot of extra years to finish the Rome Metro because they had to keep stopping every few hundred yards to get permission from the local archeological commission to continue.

[@RenoporelMundo]

very interesting Necrópolis .

[@kevinhouse7143]

Thanks Darius, you're my guy in Rome!

[@DariusArya]

I appreciate that

[@martinstensby2011]

Stunning! Thank you for revealing this gem! I’ll have to take the bus for Rome in a while…

[@DariusArya]

My pleasure. I'm glad they found a solution to make it accessible to the public.

[@harrisedgar]

Wonderful..!!

[@DariusArya]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@DarthJermz]

Amazing!

[@masoudmasoudi4155]

Thx bro,incredible art.👏👏,I watch your video from middle east, I hope I can explore the vatican by myself someday very soon, 🙏👍❤️

[@drsmith9536]

Thank you

[@carolgreen5586]

Just this last week. Very interesting.

[@wishgodgirl1903]

Excellent site! Would love to see it!

[@skipper409]

Great video….i shall visit on my next trip to Rome

[@davidevans3227]

gosh.. thankyou for sharing this 🙂 greetings from the uk..

[@DariusArya]

Thanks for watching!

[@rockweiler777]

This is so cool. I'm having trouble with picking my jaw up from the floor.

[@michaelpoat485]

It looks awesome

[@jamesellsworth9673]

This is a fine presentation of a site.

[@DariusArya]

Thank you!

[@superdivemaster]

Good Video !!!

[@DariusArya]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@jmhatyoutube6283]

What an extraordinary site! So many layers, exposed altogether in such a seeming jumble - it must take many visits even to begin to comprehend it all. It’s interesting to find that even in such a stratified society, rich and poor are all buried together in such close quarters, or is that just a mistaken impression? Many thanks to you and to the Vatican for making this treasure house of history accessible to the public.

[@DariusArya]

Thank you. Yes, it was common to have all types of burials (and all kinds of social classes) in one site.

[@PatSmith-wi1kz]

@@DariusArya hi Dario are you Italian or persian?

[@RP-mm9ie]

thanks

[@MrChabrija]

...and you still have not seen one bit of what they hiding form us...

[@TheVuduYuDu]

I lovethe content of your channel.

[@DariusArya]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@944clogue]

Incredible, how much is the tour¿?????

[@AlishaMartindale-de9tm]

WOW I would love to go back I haven't been there in over a decade myself it's 96 when I went love Rome

[@Rodmic-hd9pn]

I can’t believe we went to Rome and didn’t go there! We will have to go back

[@user-id8jf8lp4g]

Where do you get tickets? I can't find them.

[@josephnason8770]

I wonder if it was common to inscribe the words " here is " on the burial memorials during that era in Rome? I did the scavi tour ( scavi translating to excavation l'm pretty sure ) and that incription was found there directly under the present altar in St Peters: Here is Peter.

[@edwardmiessner6502]

"Here is Peter." Sounds like "Kilroy was here" to me.

[@fintan3563]

What happened to the bodies? Do bones eventually disintegrate into, I don’t know, dust or something? Asking for a friend.

[@juanalvarez9420]

Have you had a chance to see the cryptoporticus at the EMB on via Veneto? There are a number of other very interesting finds on the grounds. They use to have a curator there on staff?

[@DariusArya]

Yes, I should get permission to film it

[@youonlylivetwice5555]

👍👍❤

[@markanderson8188]

TIckets to see this site dont seem to be ever available. Any idea of when this will be open to the public. We are in Rome in March and were hoping to see this, but tickets never seem to be available.

[@DariusArya]

As per the video- and Vatican website- the site is now open to the public without special permits or visits..

[@petem7118]

Thank you for sharing…….. were those ornate coffins custom made to order? Or were some made to be ready to be sold.? Were there undertakers like we know today? Did they provide services like undertakers do today?

[@DariusArya]

Some were prefabricated - others made to order by a specific client

[@edwardmiessner6502]

There were undertakers like we know today and they did provide services like the undertakers do today. Plus they were the clean-up crews for private and public executions. (John Granger Cook, Crucifixion in the Ancient Mediterranean World)

[@ak9989]

Impressive! I gotta go to Rome again.

[@yul498]

Then you think, I know all in Roma, they excavating something unknown 😂😂

[@DariusArya]

It’s a worthwhile visit!

[@JohnnyBoy-mt1lj]

What is the woman stealing in the background at around the 3 minute mark?

[@nancytestani1470]

Look at the little child’s tomb.

[@johndorilag4129]

I'm hoping we can visit Rome and St. Peters Basilica soon

[@DariusArya]

Enjoy!

[@cody9606]

Nothing says eternal rest like removing your body from your grave and allowing visitors everyday

[@m.asquino7403]

At that point does it really matter?

[@RPe-jk6dv]

Vanitas! Vanitatum vanitas!

[@user-bi8rz5ci1m]

Just a final observation, after this really cultural significant and detailed video: Vatican State continues, centuries by centuries, accumulating real fortunes. Figure out: nowadays it capitalizes the largest part of its luxurious incomes "off-shore" (tropical tax haven/Liechtenstein/Switzerland).

[@PatSmith-wi1kz]

Must have trillions or quadrillions

[@johnyocum1840]

I would LOVE to know what the Vatican has behind closed doors..

[@carolmaplesden916]

Have you seen the audience hall there

[@staycurious0815]

Any signs of the triple goddess?

[@lucan357]

Just think in a few to 5 thousand years from now people then will be looking at that parking garage and be like whoa this is amazing a parking garage with cars from 20??. lmao

[@AWMulholland99]

Good job I can see all of this via pixels ! Why see it in person ? Fuck money right

[@josephwarra5043]

IEEEEE!!!

[@chevyyyyyyy]

Does 3:20 show a gigantic bottle?

[@FransBlaas1]

Imagine you die and buried, and end up in a museum 2000 years later..

[@uncleeric3317]

Darius, any gladiators found buried there?

[@DariusArya]

NO but a number of slaves from imperial household

[@uncleeric3317]

@@DariusArya Wow! Awesome thank you!

[@edwardmiessner6502]

​@@DariusArya Darius, was any crucified person discovered down there? (I doubt this is the case but it would be nice to know)

[@nancytestani1470]

Lots of urns…no coffins…?

[@memorieswithhappieness3577]

I had a dream of this place I'm not even joking I had a dream that this place was hell

[@memorieswithhappieness3577]

Honest to God it was in flames of fire..and I felt like it was hell

[@helloworld0911]

You wouldve thought the Roman Catholic Church to destroy these heathen burials.

[@K-Anator]

It just me or did it look like that lady under the catwalk near the beginning was up to no good? Doing a bit of rock collecting? Edit: Before anyone says something, I realise that the general public probably isn't allowed down there, and the people down there are supposed to be there.

[@josepalm5515]

I saw a Giant skeleton

[@hakimhakimi-jj3rb]

non non non je veux voir des gravures d ecritures en direct sur le cite pas dans une musée et apparement autour de toi il n y en a pas je veux insinuer quoi? rien juste dis nous qu il n ya aucune trace ecrite

[@Demetri450]

discovery?

[@Elysian777]

Be nice to show more relics while talking...more names, dates, artwork.

[@yodasmomisondrugs7959]

Its so cool that we love to desecrate the graves of others. The older I get the less I like this archeological excuse for it. Digging up a buried city is one thing. Digging up the resting place of our ancestors is another. As much as I love History and Archeology the older I get the more it bothers me. Probably my fathers Native American ancestry coming out of me with this opinion.

[@DariusArya]

It is a very big deal, what you are discussing. That's why I weighed in a bit, at the end of the video. Plenty of room for discussion... But what the video showed is pretty much for the norm for Roman pagan sites..

[@alexwelts2553]

​@@DariusAryait seems like the norm for a growing number of groups, it reminds me of Pokemon, or Easter egg hunters, like a game.

[@scoon2117]

God you really love having your face on camera dude. Just show the objects with a voice over.

[@Stonecutter334]

Always building over someone’s else work. Not insulting at all.

[@benibluefoe]

This site looks more intersting than the vast majority of the cast off items the vatican tossed into their "museum". Is it as grossly overpriced as the rest of the vatican sights for ticket sales?

[@mmmail1969]

Most of the Vatican sites are FREE....in the case of ticketed areas ie., the Museums, are you going to foot the bills for them?

[@joeydownunder2976]

Lived in Rome for years. You gotta be kidding about expensive tickets, right? The Catholic Church could charge 10 times what they do and people would happily pay. The hundreds of beautiful churches and their priceless artworks .. 99% are totally free.

[@Veidr99]

Is that ware they take the little boys

[@berlon-mtl]

Why all writing not fitting space ..the quality of letters doesn't match artistic quality of sculptors .. different cultures

[@DariusArya]

A great variety- and the inscriptions were created over 400 years, of varying quality.

[@laurentbeaulieu4443]

Do you really want stupid tourists in there to take selfies? NO

[@dansmith5280]

Good point

[@mikloslegrady965]

Can you make this aby slower and more boring?

[@sanswa8610]

Hypocritszzzzzz

[@sanswa8610]

Its al fake suckers.

[@sanswa8610]

Is that all you know 2 find , ? , you was in a war sheep . I was several times asshole.

[@sanswa8610]

Iserved 2gether in a war with the legionaires . What do you mean. Think first before you deliver nothing . Only 2 try 2 say someting you never come from youre cauche.or you must know what is happening now . Or you must have secret invasions done than we speek further.....@ss

[@sanswa8610]

I am finish with people who not know what they talk about. Lefty s.

[@sanswa8610]

@@kevin02mulder Clean youre own mess . Than you have 2 do more than you can . You are shot , have you bin in a war confrontation. You have een paar dagen op intensiev care gelegen . Dan hoor ik graag van je zo niet , hou je vinger van t toetsen bord (LuL) En anders spreken we samen wat af . Of ergens. Eens kijken wie en of wat voor zielig iets je wel bent . Geen volledige naam . Laffaard . 1 tegen 1 . Maak afspraak . En voor mijn part roep je de politie als bescherming als je laf bent LuL.

[@aquil3scach088]

Why sant Peter tomb isn't at level 1? All is a false, Jesus never existed. All is an Egyptian copy. Llogari Pujol rules!

[@PatSmith-wi1kz]

Liar and deceiver. The God of Jesús Yawheh exposed embarassed and shamed all your fake false fraudulent gods of egypt through a humble man moses

[@MaryBethPetra]

Grand opening?! That joke is tasteless.

[@Bryan-cs9to]

Thank you for sharing!

[@eatportchops]

Guess it is time to plan another trip to Rome. New things to see.