DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61894#0147
Ch. III.
THROUGH ITALY.
119
is remarkable only for its antique shape, and for
the eight noble columns of granite that support its
nave. Its front is modern, of rich materials, but
of very indifferent architecture. The semicircular
vault of the sanctuary is adorned with paintings
in fresco which, though very defective in the es-
sential parts, yet charm the eye by the beauty of
some of the figures and the exquisite freshness of
the coloring. The lonely situation of this antique
basilica amidst groves, gardens and vineyards,
and the number of mouldering monuments and
tottering' arches that surround it, give it a solemn
and affecting appearance.
The patriarchal Basilica of St. Paul, called &
Paolo fuori clelle Mura, at some distance Trom
the Porta Ostiensis, is one of the grandest tem-
ples erected by the first Christian Emperor. It
was finished by Theodosius and his son Honorius,
and afterwards when shattered by earthquakes
and time, it was repaired first by Leo III. and
again after a long interval by Sixtus Quintus.
Such was the respect which the public enter-
tained for this church, and so o’reat the crowds
that flocked to it, that the Emperors above-men-
tioned thought it necessary (if we may believe
Procopius) to build a portico from the gate to the
Basilica, a distance of near a mile. The magni-
ficence of this portico seems to have equalled the
most celebrated works of the ancient Romans, as
THROUGH ITALY.
119
is remarkable only for its antique shape, and for
the eight noble columns of granite that support its
nave. Its front is modern, of rich materials, but
of very indifferent architecture. The semicircular
vault of the sanctuary is adorned with paintings
in fresco which, though very defective in the es-
sential parts, yet charm the eye by the beauty of
some of the figures and the exquisite freshness of
the coloring. The lonely situation of this antique
basilica amidst groves, gardens and vineyards,
and the number of mouldering monuments and
tottering' arches that surround it, give it a solemn
and affecting appearance.
The patriarchal Basilica of St. Paul, called &
Paolo fuori clelle Mura, at some distance Trom
the Porta Ostiensis, is one of the grandest tem-
ples erected by the first Christian Emperor. It
was finished by Theodosius and his son Honorius,
and afterwards when shattered by earthquakes
and time, it was repaired first by Leo III. and
again after a long interval by Sixtus Quintus.
Such was the respect which the public enter-
tained for this church, and so o’reat the crowds
that flocked to it, that the Emperors above-men-
tioned thought it necessary (if we may believe
Procopius) to build a portico from the gate to the
Basilica, a distance of near a mile. The magni-
ficence of this portico seems to have equalled the
most celebrated works of the ancient Romans, as