by Cobor

Created on: February 19, 2008

In Rome are preserved important mosaic mural that tell ancient stories and illustrate complex theological concepts.
These fascinating paintings made almost entirely of glass, in a wide range of colors and shades, which are applied to layers of malta, were carried out in different places of worship.
With this walk on the streets of the Italian capital to go visit some of these buildings.

We begin by the Church of Santa Pudenziana which is located in Via Urbana and is a former spa building of the second century transformed into a church and redecorated at the end of the fourth century.
At the end of the aisle we can see the mosaic apse, carried out most likely during the pontificate of Innocent I (401-417). It is the oldest apse mosaic reached us in a Christian church and is a key witness for the art of the early centuries since the mosaics adorning the early Christian basilicas of San Giovanni in Laterano and San Pietro were lost.
This mosaic represents Christ seated on the throne among the apostles and two female figures, generally interpreted as the Church of the Jews and the Church of the Gentiles. In the background, opens a exedra: is the monumental courtyard of Jerusalem that contained Mount Golgotha, visible behind Christ and surmounted by jewelled cross.

Leaving Santa Pudenziana easily reach the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, whose main entrance is in the square that bears the same name.
The building, built between 432 and 440 by Pope Sixtus III dedicated to the Virgin, is the first basilica in Rome is not built by an emperor but a pope who had also decorate beautifully.
The mosaics time Sixtus III are kept in triumph and in the central nave. These images tell through the sacred history of Jesus: from Ancestors of Christ in the panels above the columns, the life of Jesus illustrated over triumphant.
The events are narrated clearly legible from the bottom because it made respecting the principle of functional color of early Christian mosaics, ie according to the practice of intensificationtone of the subjects represented.
Looking carefully panels can see the infinite nuances of color and contrasts of heaven, vegetation, buildings, faces, clothes, weapons and all other details that make up each scene.
At the time of Nicholas IV dates instead of the apse mosaic that was created by Jacopo Torriti between 1291 and 1296. The artist signature on the mosaic cap on the lower left: IACOB (US) TORRITI PICTOR H (OC) OP (US) FEC (IT). At the center of the dome, upper Jesus

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