Three women gaze upwards, hands clasped in prayer. Square detail from fresco, painted around 1180, in the Crypt of the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta in Aquileia, Udine province, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy.
Aquileia, Udine province, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy: detail from fresco in the Crypt of the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, the first church to be built legally in Aquileia following the 313 AD Edict of Milan which proclaimed religious tolerance throughout the Roman Empire and enabled nascent Christian communities to worship without fear of persecution. It is generally agreed that the crypt frescoes should be dated around 1180. Aquileia was one of the largest cities of the ancient world and once had a population of about 100,000. The Basilica’s origins date back to the 300s when Bishop Theodore, with the support of Emperor Constantine, built a double basilica on the site of a Roman villa that had been used for communal gatherings. In the 800s, Patriarch Maxentius, with the support of Charlemagne, restored the building. In 1031, Patriarch Poppo of Treffin (1019 - 1042) rebuilt the church in Romanesque style and added the tall bell tower. The tower was completed in the 1200s and by the late 1200s housed bells. The base of the tower was enlarged in the late 1300s and in the 1460s the top of the bell tower was remodelled. The tower was struck by lightening several times and a lightning conductor only installed in the mid-1800s. During its lifetime the tower has been used as a prison, troop-quarters, reliquary and lookout. After an earthquake in 1348, the Basilica’s interior was rebuilt in Gothic style, preserving the mosaic flooring of the original church.
Size: 2714px × 2714px
Location: Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, Aquileia, Udine province, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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