a basilica in Rome under the tracks, ignored by the mass tourism, there is a basilica built in the earth two thousand years ago by a mysterious sect. Occasionally found after nineteen centuries, has a great artistic and architectural value and a unique feature in the world: turn on every day in hundreds of trains.
The underground Basilica of Porta Maggiore basilica in Rome under the tracks, ignored by mass tourism, there is a basilica built in the earth two thousand years ago by a mysterious sect. Occasionally found after nineteen centuries, has a great artistic and architectural value and a unique feature in the world: turn on every day in hundreds of trains. By Andrea de Pascalis and Umberto di Grazia In Rome, along one side of Piazza di Porta Maggiore, between the entrance and that of the main Via Scalo San Lorenzo street, gets up a short wall of bricks blackened dirt. Li, in the supporting wall of the railway viaduct that leads to the Termini railway station the tracks of the Rome-Pisa and Rome-Naples, half hidden by a recess in a wall, there is almost always closed, almost unknown to the flow of tourism mass attention of the Romans. And it's a shame that this is so, because over the door, a few flight of stairs below, just a few feet below the tracks, is preserved sufficiently intact - no one knows how long - a unique monument of its kind: a the long nave basilica, built underground nearly two thousand years ago, probably by a mystical and esoteric sect character. The underground basilica of Porta Maggiore is an archaeological discovery made in a very casual, yet in recent years. And 'in fact the spring of 1917 when the ground beneath a crumbling track that line the square, opens in a deep cleft. This is not the simple failure of a tuff layer. A landslide, it turns out, it was the turn of an underground temple which has always ignored its existence. For a brief exploration of the first monument reveals unique characteristics. The shape is that of the three-aisled basilica with a central apse. The dimensions are respectable: about seventeen feet long, seven high, nine wide. The dating of the whole is immediate and final: half of the first century after Christ. The finding is important for the history of architecture, because it allows them to establish that the construction scheme of the basilica with three naves is well known and applied in the Rome of the first Caesars, this highly controversial issue earlier. But to take more account of the discovery is the fact that the temple preserves the richest set of stucco that has ever passed the Roman world: the vaulted ceilings and walls of the basilica is richly decorated with fine stucco figures, as elegant in form As elusive in meaning. After the first inspection, a closer examination of the monument becomes a concern the enthusiasm of archaeologists recently found as the architectural treasure proves to be life threatening. A parasite has infiltrated in the stucco, chewing the inside of some figures in a process similar to that of wood borer. The vibrations of the trains and especially the water that is filtered by the almost two millennia, are crumbling walls of the mysterious church. If you want to save the temple needs to be done quickly. From 1917 to today that have followed several attempts to restore and consolidate the monument permanently. The last, in the early 50s to take more than three hundred million of expenditure and closes the entire complex as a huge box of lime ostrich topped by a roof foil. In this so the vibrations caused by hundreds of trains a day pass through the vertical of the temple are no longer a danger. The works, however, are inadequate to bar the way to the water drops that continue to filter in spite of everything. The basilica, then, is still seriously ill. The Superintendence of the Monuments of Rome has already prepared a new plan of work, but who knows when they will reach the necessary funding. Pending further restoration, access to the underground complex is possible only with the consent of the Superintendent. Authorization actually very easy to apply for and obtain in the offices via Cernaia. Get off at the basilica is an experience that allowed any Tourists have a little 'patience. And certainly it's worth it, if only for the strange atmosphere that you breathe. At its suggestiveness
environment combines spectral lighting, the result of a faulty electrical system. The passage of trains. five feet above the vault, there is muffled by the concrete as a listing of the earthquake cycle. And then, on the whole, the mystery of the figures of stucco, flayed end sequence which is the true salt of the underground temple. The scenes depicted in the stucco are the most varied: ierariche female figures with an attitude of prayer, winged victories, mythological characters, children playing, head of Medusa, led souls to the underworld, scenes of initiation into the Mysteries, teachers and pupils, a rite of marriage, animals, objects of worship, even a pygmy who returns to his hut after the hunt. Does anyone have believed it possible to divide the figures into three groups: scenes of life 'daily, mythological scenes and scenes of misteriosofico content, that is inspired by the secret doctrines of the mystery religions. The division, however, and only apparently possible. Who has the eye just a little accustomed to the esoteric symbolism knows that scene seemingly "innocent" They may have deep meanings as those more explicitly doctrinal. An example? The representation of the marriage rite is certainly a scene of daily life, but since ancient times to the marriage were often attributed hidden meanings, as we saw in it the symbol of the unification of two opposing principles, most of the fusion of mind and body in a whole and harmonious. But the ceremony which was celebrated in secret underground basilica? Although some disagree, most speak of a mystery cult inspired by the teachings of the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras (sixth century. BC) has always been a particularly dear to the lovers of mysteries. He has been given, it will give more, inventive teachings, the result of his alleged repeated contacts with the Etruscans, with Indian gurus, with Numa Pompilius, the people of Atlantis and countless other peoples and multiply personaggi.Il of certain fantasies has always been made possible by the fact that much of the true teachings of Pythagoras, not having been given to written documents, were lost with the death of the same philosopher. But two things are certain. Pythagoras was the first place to introduce the concept of esotericism in the West, as an educational secret, reserved to a few initiates, and ways of relating to spiritual realization until you reach the "deification" or merger with the Absolute. Secondly, the fixed points of Pythagoreanism was the belief in the transmigration of souls, or metempsychosis, and the use of music as a technique for spiritual liberation. These and other ideas of Pythagoras expressed precisely found in the Basilica of stucco Porta Maggiore. The scenes are often a musical character. On the long wall of the left aisle of the illustrations alternate with performances of musical instruments, as if to emphasize the importance of music for human beings. Even the scenes in nature and initiation of worship are repeated a bit 'all over the world, highlighted by the sun. But is the set of figures which, according to some, it is proposed as a triumph of the idea of \u200b\u200bmetempsychosis: the scenes of daily life, the pigmy, the animals would not be another example of how the man, reincarnation, rise and fall, according to its merits and demerits, the scale of different forms of existence. The stucco, however, are not groped for some help to rebuild, at least in part of the liturgy of this group of followers of Pythagoreanism. But something we can try to imagine it. Cwt archaeologists have shown that the underground basilica and remained in office for only a few years and that was soon closed and forgotten as if you worship that was celebrated was forbidden by the imperial authorities. This perhaps could be related to the fact that at the time of the Temple of Porta Maggiore, five centuries after the death of Pythagoras, Pythagoreanism was polluted by the magical practices in which even the evocation of spirits peeped out, all things are sometimes suppressed by the laws Imperial. So, we might think of the basilica neopitagorica also, with some humor but not stray too far from true, as a very exclusive club of occultists, which is perhaps occasionally resorted to the three-legged table, tool already at that time was one of the tools of the trade of any magician worthy of respect.
Umberto Di Grazia and Andrea De Pascalis
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