The first object that attracts our attention is the
CHURCH OF SS. COSMO AND DAMIANO,
on the left, occupying the site and built out of the remains of two temples by Felix IV., 527 A.D. The subterranean church contains a spring said to have been called forth by S. Felix. Upon the apse of the upper church is a mosaic of the time of Felix.
THE TEMPLE OF ROMULUS,
son of Maxentius, forms the vestibule of the present church. It was a circular building, and fronted towards the Via Sacra. The second temple Felix made into the nave of the church; it was quadrangular, and built of brick, but the western wall was of blocks of Gabii stone, forming part of the second wall of Rome, which was here utilized for the temple. It is thirty feet in diameter, and was erected in 302 A.D. Ligorio ("Vatican Codex," 3439) has preserved the inscription:—
IMP . CAES . AUGUSTUS . MAXIMUS . TRIUMPH
PIUS . FELIX . AUGUSTUS.
The two porphyry columns and the cornice belong to the temple; but the bronze doors are Etruscan, having been sent from Perugia by Urban VIII. in 1630. The wings on either side of the doorway were added in 772–95 by Hadrian I.; the niches, which still show traces of frescoing, being for relics of the saints. At the same time the present flooring of the church was inserted some feet above the ancient level.
On the left are slight remains of