Decano, showed that there have been four main epochs of construction, as
well as restorations and embellishments: (1) Roman, or Early Christian,
(2) Byzantine, (3) Gothic, and (4) Modern. There was a primitive
Christian basilica to the north of the present one; and Euphrasius, in
the sixth century, built his church upon the foundations of a second,
which had succeeded it. The site of the first was used as a cemetery
till the end of the eighteenth century, and was then made into the
garden of the bishop's palace. It was oblong in shape, like the most
ancient Christian churches, and had no apse, being 75 ft. 6 in. long and
55 ft. 9 in. wide. It had one main door of entrance, and the altar was
at the eastern end of the northern portion. The pavement is 5 ft. 9 in.
below the level of the basilica of Euphrasius. In the south wall of the
portion first discovered (one half of the total area) a door, the cill
of which is still preserved, led to an oratory. On the mosaic pavement
is this inscription in black letters on a white ground:
[Lu]PICINVS
[et Pa]SCASIA
[cum r]EVERENTIA PA[mula]
FE[cerunt pedes] C[entum].
The remains of this pavement are good in design and execution, and the
colours are well distributed. The nave was surrounded by a broad white
band, within which was another still broader, sown with starred crosses.
The panels with subjects were also surrounded by a similar band. In the
first panel from the door is a crown formed of a triple row of leaves
within a double circle; the outer one has an octagon formed of meanders,
and the inner a circular treatment of the same kind. Outside are lilies
and other flowers within geometrical forms, and the whole is bordered
with interlaced lines. In the small circle is a portion of an
inscription, the right part of which has been destroyed by a tomb:
INFAN[tius]
ET INNOC[entia]
EX SVO P[alatio]
BASI[licam et]
TES[sellati]
P[edes].
The middle panel is square; within it is a handled _crater_ with a high
foot. Two branches spring from it, which are bursting into flowers and
leaves; they fill the whole space with their convolutions. At the top is
an inscription:
[Lu]PICINVS ET PASCASIA P[edes] CCCC F[ecerunt]; and at the bottom
another:
CLAMOSVS MAG PVER ET SVCCESSA P[edes] C[entum]
FELICISSIMVS CVM SVIS P[edes] C[entum].
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE THREE BASILICAS, PARENZO]
This inscription is interesting as showing that there was a school
attached to the basilica before the fourth century. The third panel
surrounded the altar, the rectangle of which is marked by the sunken
places in the marble slab where the columns stood. A piece of marble of
the same size as the sinkings was found not far away. At the right is a
square of about 3 ft. 3 in., with a framing of white bands and triangles
of colour 10 in. broad, reducing the internal square to 19 in. In the
centre is a portion of a cross based on the swastika, and a fish. On the
left a cross, formed by the intersection of two oval rings, appears
above the fish. These symbolic crosses point to a very early date. The
doorstep of the oratory shows signs of considerable wear, and the mosaic
has been roughly repaired near the word PICINVS. The fishes are
apparently insertions, later in date than the original mosaic (which has
the structural characteristics of the second century). This suggests
that the first basilica may have been a portion of the house of a
Christian of position, of which examples occur in Rome. It was probably
burnt when Diocletian ordered the destruction of all Christian churches
in 303 A.D., since charcoal was found amongst the masonry. The pavement,
much broken up by tombs and by the old cistern constructed in the
garden, extended under the north aisle of the present building; and the
site of the altar is shown by lifting a trap-door in the chapel in the
north arm of the cross, for the present basilica was made cruciform in
plan in 1846-1847, by the erection of two chapels. The mosaics found in
the garden have been completely excavated; they are covered over with
glazed outhouses, and can be easily seen. Later excavations made in 1900
have proved that this first basilica had two equal naves, and remains of
a marble chancel recalled the phrase in the S. Maurus inscription found
beneath the high-altar in 1846: "ideo in honorem duplicatus est locus."
The second basilica was probably Constantinian. The present one
coincides with it, except that the apse is polygonal and projects
towards the east, and that the lines of the walls bend a little to the
left from a line drawn across between the modern chapels. The floor of
this basilica is about 2 ft. 9 in. below that of the present one. The
mosaic pavement is well preserved nearly all over the surface; and the
sacristan opens numerous trap-doors, and puts down tapers, to show the
most interesting portions. The cills of two of the doors still remain 9
in. higher and much worn by traffic; the third was destroyed to place a
sarcophagus against the wall of the church. Between the two pavement
levels several unfinished caps and columns of limestone were found, and
also two pedestals and one base among the foundations of the present
nave arcade.
Beneath the presbytery is a choir and presbytery of the form used in the
most ancient Constantinian basilicas. A sloping platform led up to the
step upon which the bishop's seat stood at the centre of the semicircle,
flanked by seats on each side for presbyters, the places being marked by
red lines painted upon the fine plaster which covers the low wall,
rising about 8 in. above the floor, itself 2 ft. 3½ in. above the level
of that of the nave. The diameter of the semicircle is about 18 ft., and
it is floored with mosaic. Outside runs a white band 6 in. wide, within
which is a band of ornament with two black lines at each side; one of
them dentilled. This feature is 20 in. wide, with a waving stem with
volutes and leaves of ivy occupying the central 12 in., black and grey
on white. In the centre of all are other black leaves and scrolls in
red, damaged by a mediæval tomb. Three steps led down to the choir, for
the singers, sub-deacons, and deacons. It has a plaster floor of a
porphyry purple colour, and reaches as far as the third column of the
present nave, counting from the east. It was afterwards extended on a
lower level, reached by steps on each side, one of which is still in
place. The mosaic pavement of this lower nave continues as far as a line
which cuts across the central apse, appearing outside the ends of the
aisles, as well as outside the semicircle of the presbytery just
described, as at S. Maria, Grado. The presbytery wall is rough masonry,
as if it had been external, and there are no signs of its having been
decorated in any way; but the oblong plan with the apse some way within
is found also at Salona, and in Syria and North Africa. Traces of a wall
parallel to that of the north aisle, and beyond it, suggest the
existence of rooms to the north.
An excavation in front of the door of the sacristy discovered a square
mosaic on this level with inscription--
THEOFRASTVS [et]
IANVARIVS DIAC
FEC · P · CCC
--which commenced beneath the chord of the existing apse and terminated
in a line with the end of the wall of the earlier presbytery. West of
it, and separated by a smooth and even division, as if a wall or screen
had been there, mosaics previously discovered stretched to the west
door. On the south side a similar division of the mosaic was found, a
bit of a colonnette and a few fragments as of a balustrade or
_cancellum_. The spaces thus marked off were probably _prothesis_ and
_diaconicon_, the latter being to the left, where the two deacons gave
the pavement. In the left aisle were five different designs given by as
many donors. The right aisle was simpler. In the nave an inscription was
found mentioning the Clamosus who was named on the earlier pavement, but
in conjunction with Victorina, either his daughter or a second wife.
This proves that no great time intervened between the erection of the
second and the regular use of the first basilica. The inscription found
beneath the high-altar, already referred to, mentions two churches, and
states that the first was repaired by the prayers of S. Maurus, and that
his body was transferred to that place; and calls him bishop and
confessor. Till 1354 his relics remained there, when the Genoese
admiral, Pagano Doria, took them to Genoa as booty when he had sacked
the city, placing them in the abbey church belonging to his family. The
Marquis Doria soon returned them. In mediæval documents the district of
the city of Parenzo is called "territorio, terra di S. Mauro."
[Illustration: MARBLE CAPITAL OF THE SIXTH CENTURY, PARENZO
_To face page 113_]
The present cathedral was erected by Euphrasius between 531 and 542.
This is proved by his mosaic inscription, which states that "in the
eleventh year of his episcopate" (543) he had endowed it; for the
endowment would naturally come after the building. He found the second
basilica likely to fall, with the roof only kept up by chains. The
columns are of Greek cipollino, like those at S. Vitale, Spirito Santo,
S. Francesco, SS. Apollinare Nuovo and in Classe, Ravenna, and in S.
Maria, Pomposa, and were worked by the same workmen in the Proconesos
workshops: for on columns at S. Vitale and Parenzo, and also at Pomposa,
are found the same mason's marks, monograms uniting the letters [Greek:
PTE] for Petrus and [Greek: IO] for Joannes. The bases are Attic, as at Ravenna
and SS. Sergius and Bacchus, Constantinople; and, of the eighteen caps
in the nave, six are exactly similar to those of the lower arcade of S.
Vitale, several are like others at Grado, two are like a damaged one at
Pomposa, and others are much like some at Otranto and Rome. At Venice,
too, capitals of the same types occur in considerable number. The
super-abaci are of Greek marble, with a circular plaque bearing the
monogram of Euphrasius. On the north the soffits of the arches retain
the original stucco ornaments, all different; on the south they have
disappeared.
The mosaics in the apse closely resemble those of the Arian baptistery
at Ravenna in style. The figure of S. Maurus might almost have been
worked from the cartoon of one of the Apostles there. In the centre of
the semi-dome is a figure of the Virgin with the Infant Saviour, clothed
in white and gold. Above, a hand holding a crown emerges from clouds. On
each side are an angel and three large figures; on the left are
Archbishop Claudius, Euphrasius the bishop, with a small figure of his
son, and S. Maurus, holding a jewelled urn; Euphrasius holds his church.
The three figures on the other side are unnamed; one bears a book, and
the other two crowns. The ground is gold, and below, at the springing of
the dome, is the long dedicatory inscription in gold letters on a blue
ground. On the wall below are mosaics between the windows. An angel
occupies the central pier, and on the piers on either side is a saint,
probably SS. Maurus and John the Baptist. On the wide wall spaces beyond
the windows are the Annunciation on the north, and the Salutation on the
south. The soffit of the triumphal arch has medallions of female saints
within wreaths, and at the summit an Agnus Dei. The lower part of the
wall is separated from the mosaics by an ornamental plaster moulding,
and is decorated with a remarkably fine series of panels in _opus
sectile_, eight designs in couples answering to each other on either
side, with a single design above the bishop's seat in the centre, on
which the monogram of Euphrasius again occurs. The colours and materials
used are green and red porphyry, two blues, a green vitreous paste, a
dull-red marble, and a bluish-green marble which has perished a good
deal and is now preserved under glass plates cut to fit the shapes,
occasional spots of a beautiful orange colour, like a marble used in
inlays at S. Vitale, a very dark blue, almost black, a pale
yellow-green, and a pale purple like chocolate powder. The white is
generally mother-of-pearl, or marble, veined with a pale grey, and a
good deal of Oriental alabaster is used. The panel above the simple
bishop's throne has a hill, with a golden cross on a green ground
diapered with mother-of-pearl, and with tall panels at the sides with
the seven golden candlesticks. On a lower level than the throne a marble
seat runs round the apse, terminated by two slabs carved with dolphins.
[Illustration: OPUS SECTILE IN THE APSE, CATHEDRAL, PARENZO
_To face page 114_]
The architect, Signor Tommaso Natale, discovered a mosaic above the
triumphal arch a few years ago, which had been hidden by the late
Renaissance "improvements." It consisted of a long strip of gold, on
which the Apostles stood, clothed in white robes gemmed with crosses,
six on each side of a central figure of Christ, robed in purple and
seated on the globe. He has a cruciferous nimbus, and is blessing with
the right hand, whilst with the left He holds an open book inscribed
"EGO SVM LVX VERA." On the right are S. Peter with the keys, S. Andrew
with a book, S. James with a crown, SS. Bartholomew and Thomas with
books, and S. Simon with a crown; on the left S. Paul with two scrolls,
S. John with a crown, SS. Philip and Matthew with books, S. James
Alpheus with a crown, and S. Jude with a book. The names are inscribed
above the figures, and a band of dark red with golden gems surrounds the
whole. The heads of Christ and SS. Bartholomew and Matthew were damaged
by brackets belonging to the roof. The whole of these mosaics have been
restored by a Roman mosaicist, Signor Bornia.
The altar of Euphrasius was retained till the time of Bishop Folcherius
(1208-1220), who substituted a larger one to contain more relics. A few
years after, Bishop Adalpert raised the level of the choir about eight
inches, and the altar to correspond, reconsecrating it May 8, 1233. The
present ciborium was put up in 1277 by Bishop Otho, using the old
columns and caps. It has slightly pointed arches, with Venetian dentil
borderings, and mosaics in the spandrils. On the west side is the
Annunciation, and on the other three sides heads of saints in circles;
the vault is also covered with mosaic. A long inscription in Lombardic
letters gives the date and the name of the donor.
The pala was made in 1452, and cost 600 ducats of gold, half of which
the commune contributed by selling useless church objects, while half
was paid by Bishop Giovanni, a Parentine by birth. It is a fine work in
the style of the early Renaissance, with a Virgin and Child in the
centre, S. Mark to the right, and S. Peter to the left, and outside of
them a bishop with an elaborate crozier, and a deacon holding a model of
the town--SS. Maurus and Eleutherius. The figures are within classical
niches, the sides of which vanish in perspective towards the central
point. Along the cornice runs a series of small medallions with busts of
the Apostles. In the chapel of the Sacrament are some stalls to which
the same date (1452) is given. They are quite Gothic as to the ornament
and structure, and even the figures present considerable contrast with
those of the pala. There are five seats with backs, canopy, and ends at
each side of the altar. At each end are well-executed figures among
foliage scrolls, which are out of scale--on one side, a Virgin and Child
and a bishop; on the other, two saints, one of whom is an ecclesiastic.
The uprights between the seats are faced with twisted colonnettes, and
the backs have a quatrefoil pattern made by cutting the bars of a
rectangular framing ornamentally.
[Illustration: HIGH-ALTAR, PARENZO, FROM THE SOUTH AISLE
_To face page 116_]
[Illustration: GREEK BENEDICTIONAL CROSS, PARENZO]
In the sacristy is a picture by Antonio da Murano in the original frame.
Both frame and picture are in a bad state, the gesso having scaled off
in places. In the centre is the Madonna and Child, flanked by two
full-length saints on each side, SS. Francis and Nicholas, S. Simeon,
and another male saint; above the Virgin is a half-length of the dead
Christ; and, above the other saints, half-lengths of SS. Mary Magdalene
and Christopher, Catherine and Anthony. It is signed "Antonius de
Muriano, 1448." In the treasury is a Greek Benedictional cross, with
subjects carved in wood, and a silver-gilt enamelled case. There are
five subjects on each face, well carved and traditional in their design.
On one side is the Annunciation at the top; in the centre, the Baptism,
with angels assisting; at each end, an Evangelist seated; below, Christ
as Judge between two saints, and at His feet men in the abyss. On the
other side is the Presentation in the Temple at the top; in the centre,
the Crucifixion, with the thieves, the Virgin, and holy women. Two
Evangelists are seated in the arms, and below is either the
Resurrection, or the Harrowing of Hell. The case has jewels and pearls
inserted plentifully, and is decorated with floral enamelled ornament in
green, blue, and red enamel. It is made to take to pieces. The handle
bears the name of the maker, "Ezechiel, monk of the monastery of Laura."
It is ascribed to the thirteenth century, but is very like those at
Kloster Savina in the Bocche, which are seventeenth-century, the
character of the floral design agreeing well with that period.
In 1847 Bishop Peteani made considerable alterations, which included the
re-arrangement of the high-altar to face the east; and at that time the
relics of SS. Julian and Demetrius were found in a square chest of white
marble inscribed with the date of consecration and the name of the
maker, Adalpert. The ambo in the right aisle, made up of columns and
carved slabs of the sixth century, is due to him, as are the chapels to
right and left of the nave. The present pavement was laid down in 1880,
when some inscriptions of the Euphrasian period were removed to the
baptistery. The triapsidal chapel, entered through an elliptical
ante-room, beyond the sacristy, was probably a relic chapel, and is of
the sixth century--a mosaic of that date was found here five feet below
the surface; but the vaulted passage by which it is approached is of the
thirteenth century, while the superstructure of the chapel is Venetian,
added to assist in the defence of the place from this side, for the sea
is quite close. To the east of the city towards Torre Nuova a Christian
cemetery was discovered in 1893 close to the road, consisting of
three little apsed buildings close together, a larger one with a small
one contiguous, with buildings belonging to the original villa which
occupied that site at the end of the first or beginning of the second
century. A coin of Vespasian was found at the time, and a ring with a
palm engraved on it. There are several tombs of the kind in Rome
belonging to the fourth century. The mosaics found in the fifth building
are now in the baptistery. It is believed that these buildings were
memorial chapels erected over the tombs of the Parentine martyrs, and
that the greater part of the materials was used in the erection of the
church of S. Eleutherius near, after the translation of the relics to
the cathedral.
[Illustration: THE ATRIUM AND WESTERN FAÇADE, CATHEDRAL, PARENZO
_To face page 119_]
The plan of the atrium of the cathedral is Roman, not Byzantine like
those at Grado, Ravenna, and Constantinople, which have a portico and
the baptistery at the side, separate from the basilica. In this case the
pavement of the atrium was seven or eight inches above that of the
narthex. Along the façade a herring-bone pattern pavement of white and
red tesseræ was found which continued farther to the north. The gable of
the church was decorated with mosaic; between the windows the seven
Apocalyptic candlesticks were represented, and there were figures at the
sides, all within a containing border. This has been restored. Above, in
the centre, the feet of a figure of Christ seated on the globe may be
traced, and folds of the draperies of figures at the sides. Scarcely any
of the tesseræ remain, but the lights of the drawing appear in relief. A
certain test of the age of the different parts of the building is
afforded by the quality of the mortar used. By this it is proved that
the eastern apse is due purely to Euphrasius, the foundations being set
in mortar of the kind used by him; and also that he kept the atrium
pretty much as it was, only adding the columns with Byzantine caps. The
baptistery on the other side also was very little altered. It had a
floor of stucco, and was circular internally; enough was found between
the campanile and the door from the piazza into the atrium to develop
the whole curve. Euphrasius made it octagonal, and surrounded the font
with marble slabs, the marks of which still remain; a few fragments were
found, together with some gilded and coloured tesseræ, showing that it
had mosaic enrichments. It is now used to store discarded portions of
the early buildings. Here is the Euphrasian altar, standing on a slab of
marble with sunk squares in the corners for the bases of the ciborium
columns, and enough panels and colonnettes to make a restoration of the
chancel of the choir, though it is equally likely that they belonged to
a baldacchino above the font, similar to that which still exists at
Cividale, and once existed at Pola and at Cittanova. Here are also two
caps from the fourth-century church, fragments of mosaic pavement found
in mediæval tombs, and a good many pieces of eighth and ninth-century
carving.
[Illustration: VIEW ACROSS THE NAVE, CATHEDRAL, PARENZO
_To face page 121_]
The survival of the Constantinian plan is explained by the slight
alterations made by Euphrasius. The walled-up doors in the baptistery
show that it was not an isolated building. They probably gave entrance
to dressing-rooms for the two sexes attached to it, waiting-rooms for
the baptized and their relations, &c.; and an arch of the fourth
century, near to which the herring-bone pavement runs, was probably the
entrance to a portico joining the basilica with the baptistery, or the
_consignatorium_, where the bishop anointed the neophytes directly after
baptism, before they made their solemn entry into the church. This
latter building still exists as the "cantina" of the bishop's palace--a
true basilica, with a nave almost square, and with a double-walled apse
on the north, and corridors east and west, approached on the south
side by a portico. In front was an oblong court. The walls are all of
Roman work, and the outer apse has an arcade on pilasters, with large
arched windows. A few years ago repairs to the roof led to the discovery
of windows in the inner apse. The work round the doors is Euphrasian.
The corridors were spanned by arches, which are now built up, and thus
make small rooms. There was a second story, which was the bishop's
palace; but the second floor of the west wing is mediæval, and it is
probable that the great hall was made at that period by dividing the
basilica horizontally on the level of the second story. After the custom
of anointing the newly baptized in the _consignatorium_ was abandoned,
it became the chapel of S. Nicolò, then of S. Mary Magdalene, and the
original use was quite forgotten. The campanile is of the fifteenth
century and uninteresting.