Reproduction of catacomb paintings in postcards and their use as museum tools between the nineteenth and the twentieth century: the case of the catacomb of Calixtus

ABSTRACT

This article presents a set of old postcards of the catacombs of Callixtus and an unpublished tourist booklet belonging to the same timeframe. It analyses them from the point of view of heritage tourism, history of archaeology, pilgrimage and promotion of Rome’s cultural heritage. It compares them to other postcards on themes of Christian archaeology and introduces these objects as a wider phenomenon for the first time. In particular, it reflects on their role in disseminating the Roman catacombs in tourist circuits in Europe, and in the early Christian revival that spread across the continent between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The article will provide a more detailed reading of postcards as an object contributing to the dissemination of Catholic imagery and cultural heritage at the dawn of international mass tourism.

KEYWORDS:

• Postcards
• tourism
• catacombs
• archaeological heritage
• pilgrimage

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The association Amici delle Catacombe was founded by Monsignor Giulio Belvederi in to promote the reception of tourists and pilgrims at the catacombs and to enhance these Christian cemeteries from a cultural and Christian perspective.

2 There is also a beautiful photo, which he probably took on the Via Appia, with the title ‘En direcció a les catacombes de Sant Calixt’ (Biblioteca di Catalunya, Fons Salvany SaP_798_01).

3 ‘Vista de les pintures de les catacumbes de Sant Calixt a Roma’, Biblioteca de Catalunya, Fons Salvany SaP_798_04.

4 Archive PCAS. Verbali delle sedute. Commissione di Archeologia Sacra. Adunanza del 30 dicembre 1918.

5 As visible in the Guida Monaci [Commercial Guide of Rome and its province] of 1884 and 1926.

6 One of the most emblematic cases is the facsimile catacomb he designed for educational purposes, reproducing many places of the cemetery of Callixtus, and exhibited at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867 as the Vatican Pavilion (Cecalupo, 2021).

7 Such as those published in 1926 by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (Larkin, 2016, pp. 113–114). Indeed, British museums are also at the forefront in this, if one considers the exhibition that took place in 1934 at the Metropolitan Museum of New York: ‘An exhibition on museum and other publications lent by the British Government’. As can be seen from the contemporary press, these were postcards, booklets, photographs, posters, and casts, which had been produced and sold in British museums over the years as a popular means of presenting information and amplifying the visual influence of their collections.

Additional information

Funding

Chiara Cecalupo acknowledges support from the CONEX-Plus programme funded by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie [grant agreement number 801538].

Notes on contributors

Chiara Cecalupo

Chiara Cecalupo is CONEX-Plus-Marie Curie Fellow at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. She received her PhD at the Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana in Rome and has collaborated with several universities and museums in Italy, Malta and Europe. Her main research focus is on the rediscovery of early-Christian catacombs in the Mediterranean basin. She has a strong record of publication in history of archaeology, antiquarian studies and reception of antiquities from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.