Vatican: The media outlets of the Holy See have highlighted the opening ceremony of the restoration project of the Catacombs of Commodilla, held on October 16, with the participation of Azerbaijan’s First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva.
According to Azerbaijan State News Agency, the event was reported by L’Osservatore Romano, the only official daily newspaper of the Vatican, which noted the attendance of First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva, Monsignor Pasquale Iacobone, President of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture and of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, and Amedeo Ciaccheri, President of Rome’s VIII Municipality. The First Vice-President and her family members had the opportunity to view the restoration works carried out within the framework of the project.
The report recalled that the restoration was implemented under the agreement signed on March 4, 2021, between the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology.
According to Vatican News, the project, supported by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, enabled the viewing of artifacts from the early Roman-Christian era preserved in the catacombs. Discovered in the 18th century, the site first underwent research in 1900. The catacombs contain frescoes depicting the first Christian martyr St. Stephen, Jesus presenting the keys of Heaven to the Apostle Peter, and other religious scenes of historical and spiritual value.
The portal also highlighted that two previous restoration projects had been successfully carried out in cooperation with Azerbaijan – the restoration of the Saints Marcellino and Pietro Catacombs and the Saint Sebastian Catacombs.
The Catholic community’s ‘Parrocchia San Michele Arcangelo – Neviano’ portal reported that, thanks to the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, a section of the catacombs of archaeological value was protected from the threat of collapse.
Thanks to cooperation between the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, the Commodilla Catacombs, an area of Rome where examples of early Christian heritage are preserved, can be included in the city’s archaeological tour network. The Commodilla Catacombs, of religious and historical importance, will be open to the public.