Vatican City, Sep 23, 2008 / 07:54 am
Along with 48 other countries from across Europe, Vatican City will celebrate the annual European Heritage Days by opening the Vatican Museums to the public free of charge, as well as inaugurating a photographic exhibition on catacombs.
This year’s Vatican celebrations will be held on Sunday, September 28 and have as their theme: "European Heritage for Inter-cultural Dialogue."
The Council of Europe created the event to bring Europeans, particularly the young, closer to their cultural heritage. The founders envisioned that this would best be done by opening the doors to historic monuments and buildings to the public, free of charge.
This year, visitors will be able to visit the Vatican Museums and all the catacombs in Rome that are normally open to the public for free on September 28.
Additionally, a photographic exhibition will be inaugurated at the San Callisto Catacombs on the Old Appian Way. The exhibition is entitled "Customs and Grave Goods of Rome in Late Antiquity: Christian, Pagan and Jewish tombs compared," and will remain open until 28 October.