Santa Maria Antigua, is a tiny church located in the roman forum, at the foot of the Palatine hill just below the Domus Tiberiana.
It’s a sixth century A.D. church with remains of fresco decorations dating from the Byzantine time until the middle of the 9th century.
It is considered the Sistine Chapel of a thousand years ago being the place where to study the evolution of art along 2 centuries.
It’s a sixth century A.D. church with remains of fresco decorations dating from the Byzantine time until the middle of the 9th century.
It is considered the Sistine Chapel of a thousand years ago being the place where to study the evolution of art along 2 centuries.
   |  An earthquake in 847 of the Common Era of buried the church with debris. Santa maria Antigua is the oldest and most important Christian monument of the Forum. The whole church, from the nave to the two side chapels, the chancel and apse, is admirably covered with frescoes illustrating scenes from the Bible, the saints and the Virgin. One of the frescoes in the apse side is an extraordinary "palimpsest" in which there are stacked seven levels of post-Byzantine painting including at least five with clear traces and images. The church was decorated by the monks persecuted by Leo III of Byzantium that fled to Rome. Their images are addressed to the illiterate faithful. Santa Maria Antiqua, represent the start of a new art cycle that exceeds the Byzantine hieratic. The artistic innovation, that anticipate Giotto, is in the novelty of the figures that are no longer in profile as in Byzantine art, but of three quarters. The church reopened few years ago after eleven years of restoration. |
