A few paces to the right of the town-walls, just above the undermined margin of the coast-terrace, some fragments of a wall and two arcades of an aisle mark the site of the Bishop’s Church of Tipasa. Erected in the 4th cent., the church was a basilica, 57 yds. by 49 yds., with nave and triple aisles; the nave, 14½ yds. in breadth, was afterwards trisected by the addition of two rows of columns; little remains of the semicircular choir-recess.
Of the square Baptistery, on the N. side of the church, there remain the round font, with three steps, and fragments of the external walls. An adjoining chamber has a fine mosaic pavement; several other rooms show traces of a heating apparatus.
On the left, to the W. of the town-walls, lay the early-Christian Western Cemetery, with countless rock-tombs, sarcophagi, and monuments sadly desecrated by herds of cattle. About a hundred paces to the N. of the church, in the rocks rising above the sea, are several Grottes Funéraires. Near them is a large round Mausoleum, once adorned externally with sixteen half-columns, containing fourteen wall-niches (arcosolia) for coffins and the slab of a table for love-feasts (agapai).
About 2 min. to the S. W. is the Burial Church of Bishop Alexander, built at the end of the 4th cent., a small basilica with nave and aisles, of irregular shape, of which the foundations only remain. On the E. side is a rectangular altar-niche with nine sarcophagi, containing, as the eulogistic inscription in the nave declares, the remains of ‘the nine righteous men’ (probably the nine predecessors of Alexander). The right aisle contains many sarcophagi and a semicircular table for love-feasts. At the W. end of the nave are a mosaic with fish in seven rows and an inscription in memory of the founder, who was probably buried in the W. apse, added later, and accessible by a narrow portal only.
We now return to the harbour, and ascend thence, close to the sea, past the remains of a small Roman Burial Ground, to the (10 min.) East Hill (115 ft.), outside the town-walls where thousands of graves indicate the great extent of the early-Christian Eastern Cemetery.
Here, beyond a few peasants’ huts, we reach the best-preserved ruin at Tipasa, the *Basilica of St. Salsa, the patron saint of the town. This church, built in the first half of the 4th cent, over the heathen sarcophagus of Fabia Salsa, was a square burial-chapel, about 16 yds. each way, with nave and aisles, but in the 5th or 6th cent. was prolonged westwards into a basilica 33½ yds. long, with a vestibule and with galleries over the aisles. At the same time the remains of the saint were transferred to a Roman sarcophagus, which was placed on a high pedestal in the old nave, now the choir of the enlarged church. The rows of clumsy columns in the nave are a later addition. The walls between the choir-pillars belong to a restoration of the 7th or 8th century. Among the ruins of the walls, still 10–12 ft. high at places, lie Ionic capitals and other fragments in picturesque confusion. Near the façade are preserved relics of the old stairs to the galleries.
The small Chapel and the square Hall (later a burial-place) on the S. side of the church date perhaps from the 4th century.
An *Excursion to Cape Chenoua will be found attractive. We first follow the Cherchell road for 1 M.; we then turn, beyond the Ferme Trémaux (p. [244]), to the right and cross the Nador valley to the small sea-baths of Chenoua-Plage, at the E. base of Mt. Chenoua. A narrow road leads thence, up and down hill, along the beautiful Baie du Chenoua to the Anse des Grottes, which owes its name to the numerous caves in the limestone rocks (Grottes du Nador). On the narrow coast-terrace between (7½ M.) Cape Chenoua and the Râs el-Amouch is the secluded settlement of a French contractor, who with a staff of Spanish hands carries on a cement-factory and quarries the red marble of the cape, which was already known to the Romans.
The ascent of *Jebel Chenoua is interesting, both for the sake of the view from the top and for the glimpse it affords of its peculiar, purely Berber inhabitants. From the hilly coast-road just mentioned the route ascends to Tenzirt and (2–2¼ hrs.) a Pass (about 2300 ft.) between the two chief heights of the Chenoua. Thence in 40 min. more we reach the E. peak (2976 ft.), crowned with the kubba of Lalla Tefouredj (Berber Lalla Tzaforalz). The path descending from the pass to Desaix (see below) will be found convenient.
The Road from Tipaza to (17 M.) Cherchell (diligence, see p. [236]) branches off to the W. from the Marengo road at (2 M.) Gué du Nador (p. [243]), crosses the stream, and leads past (3 M.) Desaix (p. [244]), through a bleak tract at the foot of Mt. Chenoua.