The Basilica di Santa Maria Antiqua has had its light hidden under a bushel for quite some time—through no fault of its custodians. The “Sistine Chapel of the early Middle Ages,” as experts now refer to it, was buried in 847 AD by an earthquake, but has finally be restored.
The sixth-century Santa Maria Antiqua fresco-laden interior, indicative of the late Empire style, also holds several pieces of Byzantine importance, chief among them one of the Virgin Mary with child that is one of the oldest known Christian icons in the world. The framed icon survived the earthquake and was moved to Rome.
Now, after a 30-year restoration which cost nearly 2.7 million euros (a venture between the Italian government and the World Monuments Fund), the Virgin with child icon has been returned to its basilica. Because the church lay for so long beneath rubble, it was not changed or renovated in later eras like so many others. While damaged by the earthquake, its original layout and decoration remains easy to see.
By Kathy McCabe
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