A few steps from via Monastero Maggiore, at no. 2 is the Celtic Hypogeum. It consists of various underground rooms, carved into the rock with a primitive technique, which develop at different levels, in branches roughly in the shape of a K.
A steep ladder leads into the central chamber, from which three corridors depart. In the walls there are niches and rough benches, but the greatest mystery is represented by three crude masks.
The original function of this very particular monument, which has no parallel in Friuli, is still an unresolved question. Apart from the imaginative interpretations blended with legend, a funerary use of the hypogeum in Celtic times has been hypothesized, while other scholars believe the premises were prisons from the Roman or Lombard period. The hypogeum seems to have been obtained from a natural cavity along the right rocky bank of the Natisone river, which flows underneath. From the pre-Roman age, perhaps Celtic, the function it served at the time is unknown. Given the closure of the natural opening towards the river, it perhaps served as a water cistern and was certainly reused later, although the reason is unknown. Connecting steps were carved into the rock, as well as stone seats and benches, pillars and, most curious, two roughly sculpted faces seem like millennial watchful guardians of ancient cults. The presence of water, which wets the floor surfaces and filters through porous rocks, could be indicative, heralding possible rituals whose execution is unknown. To the left two stone seats are visible, which obligatorily narrow the passage: here two people could sit, perhaps for the ritual.
Information about Celtic Hypogeum
Via Monastero Maggiore, 2
33043 Cividale del Friuli (Udine)
0432710422
turismo@cividale.net
https://www.cividale.net
Source: MIBACT
