This report is a summary of the work that has taken place in the Cimitero Accatolico by the foreign academies in Rome over recent years. It is by no means an exhaustive document, but aims to provide an overview with indications of where project documentation is archived so that the information and results achieved will not be lost.

The first section of this document describes the campaigns of work in the Cemetery – 1984-86 and 2001-02 being the main years of activity. There follows various pieces of information which may be useful for any follow up work, including resulting publications, archive contents, changes to the memorials at the Cemetery, recent evaluations, etc.

On the final page are the details of those organisations and individuals who would be useful to contact for further information.

Historically the General Commission of Ambassadors have taken responsibility for the Cimitero Acattolico in Rome, and under their direction an Aesthetic Committee was formed from members of Rome's foreign community, and which worked in an advisory capacity to the Ambassadors and the Cemetery Director.

In 1981 the Aesthetic Committee held a meeting to discuss problems that had arisen from damage to tombs caused by severe storms, and their restoration was discussed. As it was discovered that there were longer term problems of damage to the memorials through vandalism, theft and decay it was decided that a full assessment of the site and the condition of its monuments should be made. Furthermore, as the original cemetery records had been lost in the Second World War it was decided that a new inventory and archive should be created.

This meeting led to David Whitehouse, Director of the British School at Rome, and Carl Nylander, Director of the Swedish Institute in Rome, initiating a project to document the Cemetery in a systematic way. They invited Sebastian Rahtz (then of the British School at Rome) to lead the project, as he had gained experience in the UK in cemetery archaeology, and had researched and worked in the Protestant Cemetery for his Masters thesis; Rahtz then submitted a project proposal to the General Commission.

Funding came for the original project came from the General Commission, the British School at Rome, King Gustaf VI Adolf's Fund for Swedish Culture, the Nordisk Kulturfond and the Carl-Bertel Nathorsts Fond. The project began with joint direction from the British School and the Swedish Institute (although following Whitehouse's departure from Rome Nylander took overall responsibility) and with participants from Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the USA.

Fieldwork in the Cemetery was undertaken from 1984 to 1986, and was led by Sebastian Rahtz. Record sheets were created to fully describe and record the details of each individual monument in the Cemetery, and the inscriptions recording the individuals commemorated there. Each record sheet contained detailed information, such as: -

Furthermore, the Cemetery was accurately surveyed, with each monument measured and plotted on a detailed plan of the Cemetery, creating a complete record of the situation at the site in 1986.

Sebastian Rahtz, now based at IT Services of the University of Oxford, oversaw the digitisation of all this information, and subsequently created a computer database. As the foundation of this database is a catalogue of all stones recorded in the Cemetery, with their comprehensive descriptions. There is also a digital plan of the Cemetery which is directly linked to the catalogue, and allows individual monument records to be found by clicking on the stones in the plan.

The database is still being worked on by Rahtz at the University of Oxford. The original records sheets are held in the archaeological archive at the British School at Rome (see page 42). The correspondence relating to the project is kept in the archive of the Swedish Institute (see page 45).

An assessment of the monuments was made in terms of their art-historical importance. In collaboration with the Fototeca of the Bibliotheca Herziana, about a third of these were photographed to create a permanent record before further deterioration occurred. This photographic collection is still held at the Fototeca Herziana, and although it is uncertain exactly how many photographs are held there, Dr Johannes Röll estimated that during 1985 alone 277 photographs of the Cemetery were consigned to the Fototeca (see page 47).

Even after the fieldwork in the Cemetery was finished, the activity there went on to stimulate further research by scholars associated with the project and the institutions involved. Various researchers examined archival records, old guide books, travelogues, vedute, and even the Cemetery flora to further understand the history of the site. Extensive prosopological work was also undertaken identifying and relating the individuals commemorated at the Cemetery within their historical context, giving an important insight into past practices at the site and the community that made use of it. This expansion of scholarship led to the Unione Internazionale degli Istituti di Archeologia, Storia e Storia dell'Arte in Roma taking responsibility for the continuation of the project. As a result the Cemetery Project Committee was formed, and one of their most important contributions was the funding of a series of publications (see page 7).

Ippolito, A.M. & Vian, P. (1989) (eds) The Protestant Cemetery in Rome: The ‘Parte Antica'. Rome, Unione Internazionale.

Krogel, W. (1995) (ed.) All'Ombra della Piramide: Storia e interpretazione del Cimitero Acattolico di Roma. Rome, Unione Internazionale.

Nylander, C. (1992) ‘The people at the pyramid: notes on the Protestant Cemetery at Rome' in T. Hall, et al. (eds), Docto Peregrino: Roman Studies in Honour of Torgil Magnuson. Rome, Suecoromana I.

Rahtz, S.P.Q. 1987. The Protestant Cemetery, Rome: An Interim Report. Rome, P. Aaröm Förlag.

Sebastian Rahtz visited the Cemetery independently on 11-12 September 1996, and made this short list detailing the changes that had been made in the Zona Vecchia from the end of the official survey in 1986 and his visit ten years later. Those monuments that were moved may have gone to other parts of the Cemetery.

In 2001 concerns were raised in a meeting of the Aesthetic Committee of the Cemetery over the management of the site, and as a result the chairman of the Committee, Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Director of the British School at Rome, decided to re-examine the site.

Sarah Court, a research assistant at the British School, examined the records of the earlier survey at the Cemetery and contacted Sebastian Rahtz, who generously gave a copy of his database, which is a completed digital record of the work that had been done there. A first preliminary survey at the Cemetery was undertaken, using the Zona Vecchia as a sample. It was found that 63 individuals had been commemorated since 1984, that is, there were 50 new monuments in the Zona Vecchia. This sample of new graves was also cross-checked with the official Cemetery database that they publicise on their website (www.protestantcemetery.it). It was found that 22 of these new memorials (a third) were not listed there, raising concerns about the completeness and reliability of the official record of burial in the Cemetery, and the maintenance of records (see page 12).

Sarah Court, with Elizabeth O'Keeffe and Neil Oddie, then went back to the Cemetery over the summer of 2002 to compare the 1980s catalogue of monuments with the current situation. Using print-outs of the catalogue they noted which stones had been removed from their original location, which had been altered, and which were in a severe case of disrepair. Where there were new stones, or stones with additional inscriptions these were recorded on survey sheets using the same recording methods as the 1980s survey, so as to make the results compatible (see pages 14, 15).

The results of this work were enough to prove that it was necessary to investigate further into the management practices at the Cemetery. Copies of these results were handed over to the Ambassadors to help with this, as well a set being held in the British School archive with the original project material (see page 47).

It was found that since 1986:

More detailed results follow in a tabulated form.