The restoration of the basilica was immediately begun, and a large contribution levied for the purpose from all Roman Catholic countries. In 1854 it was re-opened in its present form by Pius IX. Its exterior is below contempt; its interior, supported by eighty granite columns, is most striking and magnificent, but it is cold and uninteresting when compared with the ancient structure, "rich with inestimable remains of ancient art, and venerable from a thousand associations."[367]
If we approach the basilica by the door on the side of the monastery, we enter, first, a portico, containing a fine statue of Gregory XVI., and many fragments of the ancient mosaics, collected after the fire;—then, a series of small chapels which were not burnt, from the last of which ladies can look into the beautiful cloister of the twelfth century, which they are not permitted to enter, but which men may visit (through the sacristy), and inspect its various architectural remains, and a fine sarcophagus, adorned with reliefs of the story of Apollo and Marsyas.
The church is entered by the south end of the transept. Hence we look down upon the nave (306 feet long and 222 wide) with its four ranges of granite columns (quarried near the Lago Maggiore), surmounted by a mosaic series of portraits of the popes, each five feet in diameter,—most of them of course being imaginary. The grand triumphal arch which separates the transept from the nave is a relic of the old basilica, and was built by Galla-Placidia, sister of Honorius, in 440. On the side towards the nave it is adorned with a mosaic of Christ adored by the twenty-four elders, and the four beasts of the Revelation;—on that towards the transept by the figure of the Saviour, between St Peter and St. Paul.
It bears two inscriptions, the first:
"Theodosius cœpit,—perfecit Honorius aulam
Doctoris mundi sacratam corpore Pauli."
The other, especially interesting as the only inscription commemorating the great pope who defended Rome against Attila:
"Placidiæ pia mens operis decus homne (sic) paterni
Gaudet pontificis studio splendere Leonis."
The mosaics of the tribune, also preserved from the fire, were designed by Cavallini, a pupil of Giotto, in the thirteenth century, and were erected by Honorius III. They represent the Saviour with St. Peter and St Andrew on the right, and St Paul and St Luke on the left,—and beneath these twelve apostles and two angels. The Holy Innocents (supposed to be buried in this church!) are represented lying at the feet of our Saviour.
"In the mosaics of the old basilica of S. Paolo the Holy Innocents were represented by a group of small figures holding palms, and placed immediately beneath the altar or throne, sustaining the gospel, the cross, and the instruments of the passion of our Lord. Over these figures was the inscription, H. I. S. Innocentes."—Jameson's Sacred Art.
Beneath the triumphal arch stands the ugly modern baldacchino, which encloses the ancient altar canopy, erected, as its inscription tells us, by Arnolphus and his pupil Petrus, in 1285. In front is the "Confession," where the Apostle of the Gentiles is believed to repose. The baldacchino is inscribed: