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.
THE ATRIUM AND WESTERN FAÇADE, CATHEDRAL, PARENZO
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.
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.
