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Rome has opened two new subway stations, including one far below colosseum,
New milestones will help tourists Avoid the busy traffic at ground level to catch a glimpse of the artefacts of the ancient era.
traveler And tourists entering the station from next to the iconic amphitheater can see displays of ceramic vases and plates, stone wells and suspended buckets, as well as the ruins of a cold plunge pool and thermal baths from a first-century dwelling.
Screens show the excavation process – delighting archeology enthusiasts as well as explaining why it took so long to open the station.
Work on the billion-euro Metro C subway line has been underway for two decades, but work has been slowed by bureaucracy and funding delays and, importantly, by the archaeological excavations required to view the underground ruins of the Imperial Empire. Roman And medieval civilizations along its way.
“The challenge was … to build it under such a large amount of groundwater and at the same time preserve all the archaeological remains we found during the excavations, all while preserving everything that exists above,” said Marco Cervone, construction manager for the consortium building the subway line led by Waybuild.
According to the press office of the city-owned company that contracted the works, the total cost of the line’s 31 stations – three-quarters of which are now operational – will reach about 7 billion euros ($8.3 billion) and will be completed by 2035.
Rome on Tuesday was inaugurating another station, Porta Metronia, located one stop away from the station next to the Colosseum and at a depth of 30 meters (about 100 feet).
According to Simona Moretta, scientific director of the excavations, it consists of an approximately 80-metre (260 ft) long military barracks, dating back to the early 2nd century, found at a depth of between 7 and 12 meters (22 and 39 ft).
“That it was a military building is confirmed by the fact that the entrances to the rooms do not face each other, but are offset, so that soldiers could leave the rooms and line up without bumping into the corridor,” the archaeologist told reporters.
The soldiers may have either been part of the emperor’s guard or deployed there to protect the city, he said.
There is also a house with well-preserved frescoes and mosaics. Moretta said that a museum would be opened within the station in the future.
Excavating near the center of Rome means coming into contact with three millennia of civilizations built on top of each other. According to WeBuild, the consortium building Line C has received more than 500,000 artifacts so far.
To work in the delicate archaeological zone, the company has employed techniques including freezing the ground to stabilize the soil, as well as so-called sacrificial diaphragms – concrete walls built perpendicular to the perimeter walls that are demolished as excavations proceed.
As the metro line moves past the Colosseum, it will pass beneath some of Rome’s most prized cultural heritage sites – Trajan’s Column and the Basilica of Maxentius, the largest building in the Roman Forum – as well as the world’s most important cultural heritage sites. renaissance palaces, churches and Vatican,
The next stop on the line is Plaza Venezia, the real heart of the center of Rome. Cervone said that when it opens in 2033, subway cars will reach a depth of 48 meters (157 ft).
Once completed, Line C will run a total of 29 kilometers (18 mi), of which 20 kilometers (12 mi) will be underground, and carry 800,000 passengers daily.
Tourists planning to visit the Colosseum and other sites in Rome’s historic center will be able to bypass the Eternal City’s notorious surface traffic – made even worse by construction projects in recent years.