梵蒂冈 (Vatican City)

Test your hand in the English translation inline below …

8月4日 星期六

没来罗马和梵蒂冈之前，我都不知道梵蒂冈是一个在罗马内的主权国家，来了之后PJG和民宿主人告诉我那里是一个国中国，然后在网上查到：“梵蒂冈为天主教会最高权力机构圣座的所在地、最高领袖教宗的驻地、世界六分之一人口的信仰中心 … 自1929年起以《拉特兰条约》确定为主权国家，接受圣座（也是一个国际公认主权实体）的直接统治，实施政教合一的政治体制。”

PJG早在去年11月份就网上订购了我俩参观梵蒂冈墓的票，这个梵蒂冈墓的参观一定是要提前预订的，因为他们每天只接收大概250个人的参观，每一个预订时间参观的团的人数只有12个左右。我俩早上步行大概12分钟从民宿到了梵蒂冈，通过安检，11点开始就由导游带我们一行13个人游览了有着2千多年历史的梵蒂冈墓。可惜的是游览过程不允许拍照片。

Saturday, August 4th

Before coming to Rome and the Vatican, I didn’t know that the Vatican was a sovereign country in Rome. PJG and the Airbnb owner told me that it was a separate country, and then I did a quick search on Wiki: “The Vatican city is an independent state located within the city of Rome. It is the smallest state in the world by both area and population. However, formally it is not sovereign, with sovereignty being held by the Holy See… The independent city-state, on the other hand, came into existence in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty between the Holy See and Italy…”

Based on a recommendation from Mary, PJG ordered tickets for the Vatican tombs in November last year. The visit to the Vatican tomb must be booked in advance, because they only receive about 250 people per day with about 12 people in each tour. In the morning, we walked about ten minutes from our apartment to the Vatican and after a brief security check, the tour guide took our group to visit the Vatican tomb with more than 2,000 years of history.  Unfortunately the tour process does not allow any photography.

我对基督教和天主教基本是一无所知，虽然我的奶奶在世的时候信仰基督教，但是当时的大环境和家庭环境并没有让我对基督教有更多的学习和了解，只是记得奶奶会经常做祷告，现在想想真的有些后悔没能多了解奶奶和她的信仰。但是今天的梵蒂冈墓的游览以及导游的讲解，让我或多或少地了解了梵蒂冈及境内的圣彼得大教堂，这个天主教最神圣的地点。

这个梵蒂冈墓 （Vatican Necropolis）是一个很有意思的墓地，现在是处在圣彼得大教堂下面的5–12米之间的深处，但是在4世纪之前，这里其实是地平面的水平，是一大片的露天的墓地，而且是当时很多非基督徒的有钱人，有地位人的墓地，他们的墓地有些盖得都是像正常人居住的房子。最重要的是，这片墓地的起源是其实是耶稣的十二信徒之一的彼得的安葬之地。彼得在梵蒂冈被杀害，便被葬到了这里。后来，有钱有势的非基督徒们便开始在这里建立墓地。在4世纪的时候，君士坦丁大帝决定要建一个大教堂，就开始拆除一些墓地房子的屋顶，并填埋了整个露天墓地，这里就变成了现在的大教堂的地下部分。这里的发掘是从1940年开始的，因为当时是二战，为了保密，是只有4个知情的人进行的。

I don’t really know anything about Christianity and Catholicism before. Although my grandmother was a Christian, the environment and partly my family did not allow me to learn or understand much about Christianity. I just remember that my grandmother would visit church often and pray. Now that I think about it, I really regret that I didn’t know much about my grandmother and her beliefs. But today’s tour of the Vatican’s tomb and the explanation from the tour guide made me more or less aware of the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica, the most sacred place in the Catholic Church.

This Vatican Necropolis is a very interesting cemetery. It is now between 5–12 meters below St. Peter’s Basilica, but before the 4th century, it was actually the ground level. A large open-air cemetery, and at that time, many non-Christian rich people, built cemeteries for their families, and some of their cemeteries were built to look like a normal house. Most importantly, the origin of this cemetery is actually the burial place of St. Peter, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. Peter was killed at the Vatican for his views and was buried here. Later, rich and powerful non-Christians began to build cemeteries here. In the 4th century, Emperor Constantine decided to build a basilica and began to demolish the roofs of the cemetery houses and fill the entire area with sand and dirt, which then became the base of the current cathedral. The excavation here began in 1940, because it was during the World War II, and for the sake of confidentiality, it was carried out by only four specially informed people.

从地下墓穴上来，就是每年成千上万人来朝拜的圣彼得大教堂。这个建于1506至1626年的世界上最大的教堂真的是气势恢宏， 用照片根本无法表达。意大利文艺复兴时期的多位著名艺术家都曾参与教堂的设计，比如多纳托·伯拉孟特、拉斐尔、米开朗基罗和小安东尼奥·达·桑加罗。

From the catacombs, St. Peter’s Basilica, where thousands of people come to worship every year. The world’s largest church, built between 1506 and 1626, is truly magnificent and cannot be expressed fairly with photographs. Many famous artists of the Italian Renaissance participated in the design of the church, such as Donato Brahmante, Raphael, Michelangelo and Antonio T. Sangalo.

在最热的下午回住处休息后，晚上步行去了“真理之口”，就是出现在电影 “罗马假日”中的那个石雕刻。  After returning to our apartment on one of the hottest afternoon for a rest, in the evening we walked to see the “Mouth of Truth”, the stone sculpture that appeared in the movie “Roman Holiday”.

这个大理石雕刻位于希腊圣母堂的门廊，雕塑具体的用处还不为人知，曾被认为是一个排水盖。但是从中世纪开始，人们便用它作为测谎仪。我俩走的的时候已经6点都了，希腊圣母堂已经关门了，没办法测试PJG了 😅  要不然他的收肯定没了 😅   我只能通过栏杆拍了一张照片。

This marble sculpture is located on the porch of the Church of Santa Maria. The specific use of the sculpture is still unknown but was once considered simply a drainage cover. But since the Middle Ages, people have used it as a sort of polygraph test. When we went there, it was already 6pm, and Santa Maria was closed, so there was no way to test PJG. Otherwise, his hand would be gone! 😅 We could only take photos through the railing.