The Rest-Frame UV Spectrum of Elliptical Galaxies at High Redshift

Beyond redshift ~1.4 the only spectral feature that allows one to get the redshift of passively evolving galaxies (PEG) with optical spectrographs is a characteristic structure due to a set of iron and magnesium lines lines at 2600-2850 Angstrom in the rest frame. The same feature permits also to estimate the time elapsed since the cessation of star formation. Current efforts at observing high redshift PEGs at the VLT and SUBARU telescopes are briefly reviewed.