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Rome's pyramid open for free tours on 1 November

By: Wanted in Rome

Date:

25 Oct, 2017

Piramide Cestia wins Europa Nostra heritage conservation award.

Rome's Piramide Cestia pyramid celebrates winning this year's Europa Nostra award for heritage conservation by opening for free guided tours throughout Wednesday 1 November.

The tours, in Italian, are programmed every half an hour from 09.30 until 16.00 and must be reserved in advance via the Coopculture website.

The 2,000-year-old monument underwent a €2 million restoration between 2013 and 2014, funded by Japanese entrepreneur Yuzo Yagi who made his fortune by importing Italian clothes to his Yagi Tsusho chain of fashion stores in Japan over the last four decades.

The Egyptian-style pyramid stands in the middle of a busy junction between Piramide train station and the city’s Non-Catholic cemetery, opposite the fortified Porta S. Paolo.

Dating from the first century BC, the 36-metre high pyramid was built as a tomb for the powerful Roman magistrate Caius Cestius. Experts believe that the monument has evaded collapse over the centuries because it was incorporated into the Aurelian walls in the years 271-275.

The Europa Nostra prize was launched by the European Commission in 2002 to celebrate and promote best practices related to heritage conservation, management, research, education and communication.