So far this week has been exhausting! We all had a huge paper that was due this afternoon...so finally things are beginning to settle down. Right after we handed in our paper we went on a trip to the Necropolis at St. Peters. The Necropolis is the area right under the basilica where St. Peter was buried. The tour was really amazing. The area isn't advertised because they don't want the site to be destroyed by too many visitors so they limit the number of people allowed to enter the site a day to about 200. On top of that, we were sadly not allowed to take any photos of the site, so I will try to describe it as best as I can.
We entered the Vatican City and went through a side door to the church. There was a small staircase that seemed like it would just go down into any basement, but as it turns out St. Peters doesn't just have a basement, it has a catacomb. We were suddenly walking down what had once been a street lined with mausoleums, but the street was leveled and filled in to build the original church. We saw many ornate mosaics that were very old and cool to look at, and then we were taken up into the area with all of the smaller chapels. Every wednesday the Pope has a viewing so the chapel area was quite crowded. We were able to see the monuments to the Popes and get a sense for the beauty of the place.
All in all it was a great tour, but I am really excited to go back to the Vatican to see the museums and just to explore the church itself. Hopefully I will get pictures for those entries!
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