MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ARTS Department of Art History History of Art

The Chapel of Sant’Aquilino in Milan Bachelor thesis author: Gajane Achverdjanová

thesis’s supervisor: doc. Ivan Foletti, MA, Docteur es Lettres Brno, 2019

I hereby declare that I worked on this bachelor thesis on my own and that I used only sources listed in the bibliography.

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On a Columnar Self— How ample to rely In Tumult—or Extremity— How good the Certainty

That Lever cannot pry— And Wedge cannot divide Conviction—That Granitic Base— Though None be on our Side—

Suffice Us—for a Crowd— Ourself—and Rectitude— And that Assembly—not far off From furthest Spirit—God—

Emily Dickens, ‘On a Columnar Self,‘ in: The Complete poems, London 2012

On this particular page, I would like to thank many people who are present in my life and who support me whatever comes. Sometimes the true feeling which gives you the strength and ideas to write is not only about your close friends and family but also about the places where you are situated or which inspire you. My most sincere thanks go to my thesis’ supervisor, doc. Ivan Foletti, who always helped me and tried to give me as much as he could. I would like to mainly appreciate him for his sincerity and sense of irony which I sometimes miss and which he had brought to my life at the time of writing my thesis. I could continue to thank all of my friends and family in this kind of a spirit for a very long time, however, the task here is not to thank people but rather to present what their support helped me to create. Nevertheless, it is necessary to express my great thanks also to two closest friends who accompanied me throughout the entire studies of Art History in Brno and who always bring good energy, Tatiana Dižová, and Nikola Schnitzerová. I would like to also send many thanks to dear Anna Jaegerová, who helped me with many things, however, regarding the bachelor thesis, it is mainly her touch of language, which she helped me with. I would like to also thank all the people from the Centre for Early Medieval Studies, who accepted me there and always gave me good advice and never hesitated to ask me if I need any kind of help – even if it was just tiny help which they did not have to offer but which always put me into a good mood. That is why I would like to thank Sabina, Anička, Pavlenka, Klára, Klárka, Karolína, Favorit, Chriara2, Vlado, Adrien, Lada, Johanka, but also Zuzana and Betty who were there when I first handed in a written text within the academic space of the Masaryk University. Of course, I cannot forget dear Peter who supplied not only me with litres of coffee and whose coffees gave me energy even when I thought that there is none more left. Lastly, I would like to express my infinite thanks to my entire family who believes in everything I do and keep telling me that if you cannot go on in some moments, you still can a little more. I also cannot forget all the other students, who were writing with me their thesis the whole time in our lovely Hans Belting Library, namely, Silva, Míša, Táňa, Nika, Táňa and also Terka who was writing the thesis with me even a year before I truly started it. Thank you all, for having almost the same problems as I had during writing.

Thank you to all.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION - 11 -

/ STATE OF RESEARCH - 15 -

. The Beginnings of Exploration - 15 -

. . The Years of Expansion - 17 -

. . . The Output during The Recent Years - 23 -

Summary - 26 -

// THE FATED SPACE OF THE CHAPEL OF SANT’AQUILINO - 27 -

. The chapel today – its description - 27 -

. . Relevant historical documents and sketches – the outlook - 30 -

. . . The retouched space – restoration interventions and research - 36 - The beginning of the 20th century - 37 - The 30s of the 20th century - 38 - The 80s of the 20th century - 40 - After the year 2000 - 40 -

Summary - 41 -

/// THE CHAPEL’S DATING AND ITS FOUNDER - 42 -

A

The dating of the Laurentian complex - 42 -

A hypothesis of Richard Krautheimer: The Portziana - 48 -

Available archaeological materials - 51 -

B

The chapel of Sant’Aquilino as a subject of research - 55 -

The historical context of the construction - 62 -

The conclusion: ante or post 402 - 68 -

C

The possible founder - 75 -

//// THE CHAPEL’S FUNCTION AND ICONOGRAPHY - 80 -

A

The type of the edifice – the mausoleum of Sant’Aquilino? - 80 -

Sant’Aquilino’s chapel and other buildings? - 83 -

B

The chapel’s purpose and scholars’ hypotheses - 86 -

Summary - 97 -

CONCLUSION - 99 -

BIBLIOGRAPHY - 103 -

Primary sources - 103 -

Secondary sources - 103 -

The list of images - 110 -

INTRODUCTION

OH, LET US NEVER, NEVER DOUBT,

WHAT NOBODY IS SURE ABOUT.1 Hilaire Belloc, The Microbe, 1912

The following pages serve as an overview of all tangible information about a small sacral building in the northern Italian city of Milan. The edifice, nowadays known as the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino, was, however, dedicated to St. Genesio until the 15th century. The space of the chapel of Sant’Aquilino is the largest one of three spaces still surrounding the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Milan. The entire sacral structure is not easy to explain in its whole context, and that is not only concerning the basilica but also all three chapels, which still represent a certain mystery for a lot of scholars. This bachelor thesis is aimed at introducing the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino in Milan as a late antique monument, one that is crucial to perceive in the context of its construction, location, and of its historical era. The latter, comprised in the last quarter of the 4th century, was a period in which many sacral spaces have been erected. The development of the city of Milan – at this moment sedes imperii – was also reinforced by the arrival of the Milanese bishop Ambrose, who actively shaped the new Christian “profile of the city”, to quote Richard Krautheimer.2 Thanks to Ambrose ‘s influential personality, Milan of this period became the centre of the new Christian religion with great social influence, a city which developed its culture, especially in its visual and material dimensions3. The chapel of Sant’Aquilino, both architecturally and because of its rich preserved mosaic decoration, is one of the fundamental objects, which allow us to

1 "The Microbe" is reprinted from More Beasts for Worse Children. Hilaire Belloc. Duckworth, 1912, in: Peter Brown, The Cult of the saints. Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity, Chicago, 1981, p. 18. 2 Richard Krautheimer, Rome. Profile of a City, 312–1308, Princeton, 1980. 3 Alžběta Filipová, Milan sans frontières. Les reliques au service de la diffusion de l'art et de l'architecture milanais pendant l'antiquité tardive (the doctoral thesis), Masarykova Universita/ Université de Lausanne 2017; Ivan Foletti, Oggetti, reliquie, migranti. La basilica ambrosiana e il culto dei suoi santi (386-972), Rome 2018.

- 11 - understand the importance of the Milanese material culture at this key- moment of Late Antiquity.

In the following chapters, my aim is, therefore, to display on the longue durée all the information, both facts but also misunderstandings as well as legendary creations, which have appeared during researches done until today on the chapel of Sant’Aquilino. It has to be said that this chapel is currently studied carefully, especially by Ivan Foletti, Elisabetta Neri or also Markus Löx, which might lead future studies on this architectural and visual structure to new discoveries.4 Previous explorations done in the chapel of Sant’Aquilino clarified a lot of doubts concerning the chapel. However, some essential questions about the chapel have not been entirely answered yet. There is still a major discussion about the dating, the possible founder, and even the purpose of the monument. As such, almost all aspects of the edifice are still quite doubtful. In order to clarify this disputable knowledge of the chapel, it is crucial to try to summarise everything that has been discovered until now, confirming some hypotheses and also supporting one of them. Lastly, it might be also possible to express a humble input into the discussion and perhaps try to direct the following research towards other possible directions of interest.

4 Ivan Foletti, De la liminaité à la présence. Les copules milanaises, leurs decorations et la naissance du Moyen Âge, in: Entre terre et ciel. Les édifices à coupole at elur décor entre l’Antiquité tardive et le haut Moyen Âge (ed. by Chiara Croci and Vladimir Ivanovici), Lausane 2018, pp. 125–139; Elisabetta Neri, "Desuper tegens universa musivum" le décor des coupoles du complexe de Saint- Laurent à Milan, in: Entre terre et ciel. Les édifices à coupole at elur décor entre l’ Antiquité tardive et le haut Moyen Âge (ed. by Chiara Croci and Vladimir Ivanovici), Lausane 2018; Elisabetta Neri, Le pittura della galleria superiore della cappella di S. Aquilino a Milano: i motivi e le tecniche nel loro spazio architettonico, in: Rivista di Archaeologia, 41 (2017), pp. 125–149; Markus Löx, Die Kiche San Lorenzo in Mailand: Eine Stiftung des Stilicho?, in: Bullettino dell’Istituto Archeologico Germanico Sezione Romana, vol. 114, 2008, pp. 407–439.

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The first chapter will be focussed on a detailed analysis of the existing bibliography, which will be structured as a status quaestionis of the relevant information gathered by scholars since the beginning of the 20th century and until nowadays on the space of Sant’Aquilino. A particular interest will be dedicated to the question of the chapel’s dating and probable founder. The second chapter will continue the historiographical exploration of the chapel by examining the successive reconstructions and restorations done within the space of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel itself. Into consideration will be also taken the newly revealed book written by Laudedeo Testi (1857–1924) already in 1903 and never published. Before Testi’s paper had been discovered, the latest known source about the chapel’s restorations was the work about the chapel’s mosaics by German scholar Joseph Wilpert (1856–1944) from 1913. The major aim of the second chapter is to render a certain axial chronology of the executed interventions, mainly inside of the chapel, and to highlight its successive transformation in the course of its history.

For both of presented chapters are crucial primary sources surviving from the 6th to the 19th centuries, which will hopefully explain some questionable points of the chapel’s dating, its plausible founder, and also the original function of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino. Some of the primary sources will be carefully analysed and will show a different understanding of the same parts of the text.

Afterwards, I will proceed to the third chapter, which will interrogate the two primordial questions: the dating and the possible founder of the chapel. Concerning the question of the architectural structure, the entire chapter will be put into the context of the late 4th century, when the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino was erected. The aim is to reason with archaeological excavations and historical circumstances in order to specify the range of the chapel’s dating on these bases. The chapel’s dating will hopefully direct the research also towards the plausible founder of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel, an

- 13 - identification which becomes possible because of close connections with the dating and context. The last chapter will be laid out in the same manner as the third one. Once again, the text will deal with two issues together, namely the function of the chapel and the iconography of its inner decorative cycle. However, I am convinced that the function will be possible to anticipate already from the third chapter. It is still necessary to situate the structure of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel into the time period of its construction and let it be presented in a way of comparison and visual point of view, which was often a great concern of many scholars before.

Finally, I would like to conclude the introduction with the hope in the successful realization of the presented outline of this thesis. I believe an important reassessment of the dating and the plausible founder of the chapel will be more or less achieved. However, in my view, the major meaning of this bachelor thesis resides in its effort to summarize the topic of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel, which is concerned with surviving primary sources, scholars’ hypotheses, and also with opposing archaeological excavations. Its main result is to highlight the crucial role that Sant’Aquilino plays within Late Antique material culture of the 4th century, but also how the plurality of transformations of an ancient space can modify its meaning and historiographical receptions.

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/ STATE OF RESEARCH In all honesty, there are many brief references to the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino in scientific books but however extensive the bibliography is, the amount of key information is still not that rich. Therefore, the goal of these paragraphs is to present crucial works with all their ideas and conclusions that are determinative for further work. The particular levels of scholarly interest can be understood as a reaction to preceding restoring interventions from 1910–1911, 1935–1938, and 1980–1981.5 . The Beginnings of Exploration At the beginning of the 20th century, an Italian researcher Laudadeo Testi wrote La forma primitiva delle gallerie lombarde e Cappella di S. Aquilino nel S. Lorenzo Maggiore di Milano.6 This research is not based on the previous bibliography but on analysis of the chapel space itself. Previous examination and surviving archives served as the sole sources of the article. It is possible to perceive the article of L. Testi as the only paper from the years when the mosaics of the chapel have not been fully uncovered yet. Consequently, Testi is not writing about the iconography of mosaics or anything more specific but rather about the importance of the building in the context of architecture. Thus, he is comparing the edifice itself with the general knowledge that had been available at the beginning of the 20th century. The pivotal moments of his paper are the date of construction and naturally the origin or function of the chapel. Essential for this research is the historical development of the conjectures about the founder of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino, which took place from the 11th century until the end of the 18th century. Laudadeo Testi considers the correct foundation date of the Basilica of San Lorenzo as the year of 451 AD. That means that all other surrounding buildings have to be dated not before the year 451 and later.

5 Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, p. 157. 6 Laudadeo Testi, La forma primitiva delle gallerie lombarde e Cappella di S. Aquilino nel S. Lorenzo Maggiore di Milano: ricerche, Messina 1902.

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Then he is continuing with an extensive description of the whole building of the chapel. With all his presented details about the building, he is approaching the function and the date of construction of St. Aquilino’s chapel. Author’s hypotheses are based on texts by historical figures, such as Gregorio de Tours (538–594),7 Venerabile Carlo Bascapé (1550–1615)8 or Giuseppe Ripamonti (1573–1543).9 Afterwards, he is convinced about a specific date of the foundation which is in his opinion somewhere in between the end of the 5th century and the 6th century. According to this dating, he specified the style of the Milanese chapel as an expression of Roman art decadence. There are two interesting speculations. Firstly, that the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino was constructed after the other chapel of San Lorenzo, the Chapel of San Sisto. And the second assumption is related to the legend of Galla Placidia, which is based on a written tradition that the chapel was to be the mausoleum of Galla Placidia. This legend is written down by many significant people, such as Pope Alexander II. (1010/1015– 1073)10 or a chronicler Galvano Fiamma (1283–1344).11 Lastly, this paper discusses the recognition and acceptance of the reconstruction of the chapel in the 18th century. The first edition of the book called Die römischen Mosaiken und Malereien der kirchlichen Bauten vom IV. bis XIII. Jahrhundert was written by Joseph Wilpert in 1916, for the purpose of the thesis however will be used the second printing edited by Walter. N. Schumacher in

7 Gregorio de Tours, Gregorii episcopi turonensis: Miracula et opera minora. II, in: Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum, Hannover 1885. 8 Venerabile Carlo (Giovanni Francesco) Bascapé, Libro di alcune cheese di Milano, Milano 1576. 9 Giuseppe Ripamonti, Historiarum patriae in continuationem Tristani Calchi libri XXIII, usque ad mortem Federici Card. Borromei, Milano 1641–1643. 10 Thomas Christopher Lawrence, Crisis of Legitimacy: Honorius, Galla Placidia, and the Struggles for Control of the Western Roman Empire, 405–425 C.E. (doctoral dissertation), University of Tennessee, Knoxville 2013. 11 Gualvaneus Flamma, Manipulus Forum, in: Rerum Italicarum Scriptres XI (Mediolani: In Aedibus Palatini), Città di Castello 1727.

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1976.12 Wilpert’s book is significant from several points of views: firstly, due to its important set of colour images of examined mosaics, and secondly because of his – not very extensive – mention about the chapel of Sant’Aquilino and its mosaic decoration. After they removed the layer of the modern adjustment of the chapel between the years 1910–1911, Wilpert had the honour to take a look at all remaining mosaics. He was mainly mesmerised by the mosaic on the eastern wall, or at least by parts of it that had remained, he described it as a simple pastoral scene. His work is crucial for us in a matter of the examination of mosaics, Wilpert did not draw his attention to anything but mosaics and its state. Other aspects of the Milanese edifice are not in his focus. However, there are also two other key books that are a type of summary publications about the whole structure of the Church of San Lorenzo. One of them is a study of three Italian authors – La chiesa di San Lorenzo by Arstide Calderini, Gino Chierici and Carlo Cecchelli,13 and the second one is the often-acclaimed book by Ildefonso Schuster who had the opportunity to see the mosaics of the Chapel of Sant’ Aquillino directly after the removal of the baroque treating.14 Schuster encourages the idea of the baptismal purpose of the chapel. . . The Years of Expansion After quite a long period of disinterest came relatively fruitful decades of dedicated research. This period of time started in the early 70s of the 20th century and lasted until the end of the 90s. We can finally speak about a way of discussion between authors through published studies. They try to open all possible doors of interest and come up with some kind of conclusion or at least highly possible hypothesis.

12 Joseph Wilpert, Die römischen Mosaiken und Malereien der kirchlichen Bauten vom IV. bis XIII. Jahrhundert (Walter. N. Schumacher, ed.), Frieburg/Basel/Wien 1976. 13 Aristide Calderini, Gino Chierici, Carlo Cecchelli, La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1951. 14 Ildefonso Schuster, Liber sacramentorum. Geschichtliche und liturgische Studien über das römische Meßbuch, Regensburg 1929–1932.

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The first one to be mentioned is the Italian art historian Giuseppe Bovini is concerned with all the aspects of Aquilino’s structure.15 His extensive study deals especially with the date of erection and the iconography of the mosaics in the chapel itself as well as in the atrium. Bovini’s research I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano is a kind of breaking point for a lot of further art historians who often refer to his work. Three crucial issues of Giuseppe Bovini are the function, the concept of the iconographic cycle and of course the dating of the chapel and its atrium. Bovini sticks to the already defined assumptions and on their basis, he shows these diversities in all probable options. Despite the fact that he worked only with the rest of the mosaics, G. Bovini still discovered quite a potential iconographic cycle – based on the three- dimensional perception of Heavenly Jerusalem. Afterwards, the author continues with the function of the Chapel of St. Aquilino. He coped with this problem by the use of comparison. Bovini confronts the chapel with analogous structures from a similar time period - baptisteries and mausoleums such as Baptistery of Saint John the Lateran or Mausoleum of Galla Placidia and so on. Bovini found out two highly possible functions. He closed his study with a relatively concrete dating in a range of about ten years. The dating of the mosaics in the apses is about 360–370 and the atrium’s mosaics can be dated not until between 374– 397. Perhaps, the greatest question of Bovini’s paper is the function of the chapel. He tried to support his opinion about a funeral function of St. Aquilino’s chapel not only with the mentioned comparison but also with the present iconography of mosaic fragments. Bovini spoke about Ambrose's perception of the scene of the Ascension of Elijah, which is in the eastern apse. For the Milanese bishop Ambrose, this scene is a symbol for a baptism however, Bovini’s text sides more with the funerary purpose of the chapel. He is convinced that the scene

15 Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’ Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970.

- 18 - consisting of a figure of Elijah is rather a funerary symbol even though that symbol is present also in many baptismal spaces. Bovini argued that however, the scene is possible to find in both places – a baptistery and also a mausoleum. We can also state that every baptism is also a funeral. When a new man is born, the old one, full of sins, dies. The same scene is used also in a Roman funeral space of the Catacombs of Callisto (XX), which is one of several Bovini’s proposals on how to defend his hypothesis about Sant’Aquilino’s function. Practically at the same time are published an article and also a book by an American art historian Dale Kinney.16 She suggests three different theories that are patterned on the knowledge of the historical context of Milan and chronicles from that period. The author mostly works with the texts of an Italian chronicler from the 14th century – Galvano Fiamma.17 His thoughts lead to one of Kinney’s possible explanations for dating and for the function of the chapel. That is a hypothesis that the mausoleum was founded by the Empress Galla Placidia. With the final paragraphs, D. Kinney constructs a great surmise that encapsulates everything she discovered before. She concludes that the chapel originally had a burial character and the offered dating responds to the period of the construction of the whole basilica in Milan. The foundation has to be dated during the time when the city of Milan had a status of the capital city which implies that the latest date of the chapel building should be 402 AD. The most plausible rulers that could have initiated the construction are Constantin II. or Valentinian I. In the context of the closing theory, Kinney claims that the dating ranges from 370 to 374. This would also clarify the term “Cappela Reginae”, i.e. the Empress’s chapel. Furthermore, it could be a case of an initiative by an Emperor’s wife – Justine, the second wife of Valentinian I. possibly suggested the erection of a new mausoleum. In comparison,

16 Dale Kinney, Cappella Reginae: S. Aquillino in Milan, in: Studies in the History of Art, vol XV, New York 1970–1971. 17 Galvanus Flamma, La cronaca estravagante di Galvano Fiamma (Massimiliano David and Paolo Chiesa ed.), Milano 2013.

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Kinney also points out the other ruler that could have likely begun the building of the chapel, namely Theodosius I.

The following paper was again mainly focused on the function of the Chapel of St. Aquilino. Enrico Cattaneo did open the article Il “Sant‘Aquilino“: battistero o mausoleo?; una lettura ambrosiana dei mosaici, by employing a method of an architectural comparison to specify the purpose of the building.18 Afterwards, he continues with a relatively clear opinion about Schuster’s thesis. Although Cattaneo works with the same sources, he took diverse thoughts into account as well. Even though Cattaneo successfully defended his speculation, he does not maintain any one-sided conclusion. He was probably convinced about a burial function of the chapel but his paper is without a definite outcome. Accordingly, the mausoleum’s theory is based just on a critical assessment of Schuster’, Cecchelli’s texts and an iconographical analysis. I mosaici di Sant’Aquilino by Carlo Bertelli follows the previous papers of G. Bovini and E. Cattaneo and subsequently persists in working with the same sources of the aforementioned authors.19 He repeats Fiamma’s legend about Galla Placidia, as well as the iconographical theory about the Heavenly Jerusalem. The whole building is classified as being done in the Constantinopolitan manner and to its continuous tradition. The result of his speculation is setting the construction of the building into the second half of the 4th century.

To Cecchelli’s point of view also adheres the Norwegian art historian Per Jonas Nordhagen in his short text The mosaics of the Cappella di S. Aquilino in Milan.20 Nevertheless, the main points of Nordhagen’s focus are different. He mostly deals with restoration

18 Enrico Cattaneo, Il “Sant‘Aquilino“: battistero o mausoleo?; una lettura ambrosiana dei mosaici, Milano 1979. 19 Carlo Bertelli, I mosaici di Sant’Aquilino, in: La Basilica di San Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1983. 20 Per Jonas Nordhagen, The mosaics of the Cappella di S. Aquilino in Milan, in: Acta ad archaelogiam at atrium historiam pertinetia, vol. VIII, Roma 1982.

- 20 - interventions and their various records, such as the publications by Joseph Wilpert (1857–1944),21 Ildefonso Schuster (1880–1954)22 or André Grabar (1896–1990).23 Nordhagen starts with discussing the possible influence of the Eastern style on Italian production during the 4th century. He did not even forget to emphasize the importance of the chapel’s design. Nordhagen perceives the value of the chapel’s interior particularly in the fact that the golden background used here is probably the first background of this type in the West. This leads to his significant comment about this particular stylisation of golden background that had not reached Italy until the year 500 AD. That’s a whole hundred years after the known realizations in the East. Then Nordhagen continues with a detail reflecting about the interventions of the restoration from 1900 when the mosaics in the interior were found by Joseph Wilpert. The main points of his concern in the Chapel of Sant’ Aquilino are the questions of sinopia and strappo. Thanks to the sinopia that mainly helped in the case of the scene with the Ascension of Elijah, i.e. the under-sketch or sort of pattern of a planned mosaic from which it was possible to reconstruct the original look of the mosaic. Because of Wileprt’s records, Nordhagen contends that the best-preserved scene is the one with Jesus Christ and the Apostles. And furthermore, he is convinced that the style of the mosaics is not that unified to be done just by one hand, that is based on the style analysis of the manner used during the realization of the figure’s heads. Even in the chapel’s vestibule. He is mostly captivated by the badly done restoration of the chapel’s interior and mainly focuses on the intervention from the 30s of the 20th century. All Nordhagen’s revelations are based on the period correspondence between a superintendent of the mosaic reconstruction

21 Joseph Wilpert, Die römischen Mosaiken der kirlichen Bauten vom IV– XIII. jahrhundert, 1913. 22 Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, Sant'Ambrogio e le più antiche basiliche milanesi, in: Note di archeologia cristiana. Vita e pensiero, Mailand 1940. 23 André Grabar–Carl Nordenfalk, Early Medieval Painting from the Fourth to the Eleventh Century (The Great Centuries of Painting), Ney York 1957.

- 21 - and the chapel supervisor L.B., whose whole name is not known for us so the works are known only by these initials. Unfortunately, there is not a detailed description of the adjustments. Nevertheless, a lot of dating records are made clearer thanks to this correspondence, such as the period of restoration etc. Even though that Nordhagen proclaimed the rightness of interventions of the Italian Service of Monuments, he did not omit to mention that many mistakes were done here. Mostly in the positions of the hands and the shapes of the noses, the eyes or the whole head. But after the whole correspondence is read, the main question still remains – Would they have continued with the mosaic restoration if they did not have any time limit? Fundamentally, the most important note from the correspondence is the last one: “All these mosaics have been completely extracted, cleaned, strengthened and reapplied. […] which have been reapplied exactly and solidly where they were taken from...”24 In 1991, Massimiliano David wrote a brief but influential study De aurea ecclesia Genesii.25 The importance of the paper is inhered mainly in its chronological presentation of records and extant sketches of the chapel’s interior of several visitors of Sant’Aquilino. Besides Fiamma, Giuliano di Sangallo (1445–1516) and Bascape, all mentioned above. David goes in for other relevant documents written by Enrico Villa (around the year 1953), Carlo Torre (unknown–1655/1679) or Giuseppe Milani (1716–1798). And what is more important, he is the first who had published till that time an unknown drawing and description of the chapel made by Ralph Symonds (the 18th century). Because of these archival documents, it is practicable to visualise the plausible original decoration of the chapel’s interior itself – mosaics, marble of various colours, opus sectile etc.

24 Archives of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence, in: Per Jonas Nordhagen, The mosaics of the Cappella di S. Aquilino in Milan, in: Acta ad archaelogiam at atrium historiam pertinetia, vol. VIII, Roma 1982, p. 94. 25 Massimiliano David, De aurea ecclesia Genesii, in: Milano ritrovata: La via sacra da San Lorenzo al duomo (Maria Luisa Gatti Perer ed.), Milano 1991, pp. 49–61.

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David showed a different point of view than scholars before him and as a consequence of the revelations that he accomplished, a lot of researchers react to it and carry on with David’s perspective. . . . The Output during The Recent Years With the new millennium, a slightly different look at the subject arose. All the papers of these recent years are trying to proffer the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino to the readers in a historiographical view. An interesting paper regarding the dating of the Sant’Aquilino’s chapel is the one written by Mark J. Johnson in 2009.26 Even though there is plenty of information that is known from the previous papers, some of it is appealing and opening up new directions. Johnson is not only convinced of the funerary function of the chapel but also of the fairly precise dating from 360 to at latest 402. That is based on technological analyses of the masonry and other parts of not just the chapel but also the whole church of San Lorenzo in Milan. He claimed that the Sant’Aquilino has to be an order made by an imperial figure. The original decoration was expensive not only because of the used material but the price as well, so in that sense, it is almost impossible to attribute the chapel differently than as a “palace chapel.” Johnson opens a great question in connection with the dating – For whom was the Sant’Aquilino built? A short article, this time mainly about the mosaic decoration is written by Russian art historian Svetlana P. Zaigrajkina.27 Zaigrakjina is convinced that plausible dating of the chapel is somewhere between the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th century. The persuasion of the dating is based on a formal analysis of visible mosaic style in decorations of the 5th century. She compares these mosaics and tries to come up with something new thanks to this type of investigation.

26 Mark J. Johnson, Sant‘Aquilino, Milan, in: Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, pp. 156–167. 27 Svetlana P. Zaigrajkina, Mozaika “Christos s apostolami“ v kapelle Sankt Akvilino v Milane, in: Trudy Gosudarstvennogo Ermitaža, Sankt Peterburg 2015.

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She did not forget to mention that the mosaics inside were studied in detail from the iconographical, archaeological and historiographical point of view but not with the aid of style comparison. It is also necessary to mention Ivan Foletti and his several papers about the Chapel of St. Aquilino from 2015, 2018 and 2019.28 So that is why these following paragraphs will be a résumé of all three Foletti’s texts. He takes more or less all texts mentioned above into consideration in these papers and tries to look at the problematic of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel from three diverse points of views. Briefly, Foletti’s first article deals with creating a scale, which shows a certain development of late antique backgrounds. Foletti is also focused on Sant’Aquilino’s dating considering the mentioned scale. The second one is even more focused on kind of a structure of visual adaptation of images and in order to this even a different visual perception that can be adopted. That means that the text is more about migrating images, which are present in diverse adaptations through the late antiquity. The last paper, thereafter, mainly shows on two examples of mosaic decoration part of a similar esthetic tradition. He tries to present models and manners as a consequence of it he shows the development of mosaic production and even links it to the cultural and intellectual trajectories in the late antiquity world. Foletti’s first article showed the first way how is possible to reflect on the mosaic decoration of the chapel of St. Aquilino. He pointed out the relationship between “figure” and “nature,” which is demonstrated on a certain kind of evolution of backgrounds in late antique mosaics. He started with the first stage that is more complicated

28 Ivan Foletti, Il trionfo della figura: Sant’Aquilino, San Vittore in Ciel d’oro a Milano e la retorica del V secolo, in: Medioevo, natura e figura, Milano 2015; Ivan Foletti, De la liminaité à la présence. Les copules milanaises, leurs decorations et la naissance du Moyen Âge, in: Entre terre et ciel. Les édifices à coupole at elur décor entre l’Antiquité tardive et le haut Moyen Âge (ed. by Chiara Croci and Vladimir Ivanovici), Lausane 2018, pp. 125–139; Ivan Foletti, Milano capitale, tra Roma e Ravenna: circolazione di botteghe, di materiali e di idee, 2019 (non published)

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– a space full of diverse elements, considering the background – such as in the church of Santa Prudenziana in Rome or the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The last stage of this scale is understood as a kind of a plain type of background – that means a background based on a monochromatic use of colours – such as in the Martyr Chapel of San Vittore in Ciel d’oro in Milan. The analysis of the mosaic manner helped Foletti to define as the chapel’s dating to the end of the 4th century – supposedly the 380s – so iconological reasons of the scenes, considering the “ambrosian” iconography as well as the political situation on the Milanese court, and also to defend the function, which Foletti supports. On the basis of historical observation, the preceding thesis of other scholars and the style comparison, Foletti stated beside the dating also the burial character of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel. Therefore, he apperceived the chapel of Sant’Aquilino as a complex historical monument, i.e. as an ideological concept heavily emphasized by politics, confession and doctrine criticizing Arianism. It would not be omitted at least one of Elisabetta Neri’s articles from recent years.29 Her papers are essential mainly because of their archaeological character, which shows a different point of view on the dating of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino. All of her papers are strongly concerned with the archaeological excavation, which was done by Laura Fieni and her team in 2000. Therefore, Elisabeta Neri purposes the later dating of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino, which is rather in accordance with the beginning of the

29 Elisabetta Neri, Le pittura della galleria superiore della cappella di S. Aquilino a Milano: i motivi e le tecniche nel loro spazio architettonico, in: Rivista di archeologia, 41, Venezia 2018, pp. 125–149; Elisabetta Neri, "Desuper tegens universa musivum" le décor des coupoles du complexe de Saint-Laurent à Milan, in: Entre terre et ciel. Les édifices à coupole at elur décor entre l’Antiquité tardive et le haut Moyen Âge (ed. Chiara Croci and Vladimir Ivanovici), Lausane 2018, pp. 43–64; Elisabetta Neri, Il complesso di San Lorenzo Maggiore – nuove riflessioni, in: Silvia Lusuardi Siena e Elisabetta Neri, "Non esiste in tutto il mondo una chiesa più bella," Milano 2015, pp. 19–38; Elisabetta Neri, Silvia L. Siena, Paola Greppi, Il problema della cronologia del cantiere di San Lorenzo a Milano, vecchi e nuovi dati a confronto, Milano 1986.

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5th century. She is concerned also with discoveries underneath the ground floor of the chapel and the manner of the construction of the walls, which according to Nerri corresponds with the beginning of the 5th century. Summary In regard to these preceding pages, it is evident that the Sant’ Aquilino was not studied as widely as it could have been. Despite this fact, there was a lot of papers which showed different approaches to this early medieval structure in past centuries. After all, it must be confessed that even though the chapel has been studied from the beginning of the 20th century, there is a fluctuation of scientific interest. Most of the knowledge is frequently repeated, often without further examination or propositions of different suggestions. For example, that is how the theory about Galla Placidia’s mausoleum arose. The greatest number of research papers were published mainly during the 70s and 80s of the 20th century by such scholars as Bovini, Bertelli or Cattaneo. Their careful analyses, not only of the architectural aspect of the chapel but also the iconographical one, proved that at least the essential theory about Sant’ Aquilino’s chapel is more or less established. The dating is settled between 360–402 and opinion of the burial function of the chapel dominates. The new idea of a comprehensive outlook that began with the 21st century is the appropriate attitude in studying the object in the following years. If the Chapel of Sant’ Aquilino is supposed to be explained, there should be this kind of a new possibility for perceiving its intellectual concept. Lastly, if there is still anything that should be studied, I would suggest the iconography and the whole possible semantic programme. Despite the fact that the funerary function is pretty satisfyingly defended, the appearance of the mosaics and its style would help the complex reconstruction of the early medieval sacral building. What is more, thanks to all these aspects the authentic implication of the building, and possibly also the correct founder, would have been discovered.

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// THE FATED SPACE OF THE CHAPEL OF SANT’AQUILINO

“You will see wherever you look only vanity on this earth. What one man builds today, another tears down tomorrow; Where now cities stand, a meadow will be, Upon which a shepherd’s child will play with the herds.”30 ___ In contrast with the first chapter on the state of research where most of the bibliography about the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino was introduced, this chapter will be more focused on the material side of the topic. The individual difficulties, such as modern treatment in the 17th and also in the 18th century or several reconstructions, had an impact on how the appearance of the chapel was changing in the course of time and marginally also on the Church of San Lorenzo itself. . The chapel today – its description First of all, to make the information about the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino complete, it is highly important to present the enclosed images of the chapel along with a detailed description of its architecture and decoration. [FIG. 1] The small chapel (the outer width 21.20 m) is situated within the space of the Church of San Lorenzo as mentioned many times before.31 The entire space of Sant’Aquilino is occupied by three main structures: the first one, a squared vestibule that is directly attached to the church by means of extensive semi-circular apses in the east and west (about 8 meters per side);32 then the second, the main area of an octagonal shape, which is apparent not just from the exterior but also the interior; and the last one, the chancel, which was added later, around the year 1469. [FIG. 2]

30 Andreas Gryphius, Menschliches Elend and Es ist alles eitel (ca. 1630) in: Deutsche Dichtung des Barock, E. Hederer ed., 1967, pp. 94-95. 31 Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, p 158. 32 Ibidem, p. 157.

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At the outset, the exterior of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel was made of subtle red bricks with layers of mortar from 2 to 5 centimetres.33 The outside structure is divided into three horizontal levels, whose borders are emphasized with a ledge made of elongated red bricks that embrace the whole perimeter of the building. The chapel is naturally crowned with a tent shape roof made of tiles. Then, its octagonal shape creates the structure of eight walls – plain and simple on the ground level. However, each wall continues to the first-floor level, where it is completed with window openings and their semi-circular arches. Today, the window openings are filled up with gridded glass windows. The second-floor level, which is also the last and the highest part of the chapel is the most distinctive one. Again, it is possible to observe blind arcades and window openings with semi-circular arches there. [FIG. 3] Each window axis has four of these narrow arches that are bordered by simple columns with modest capitals.

Now it is time to continue with a description of the interior (13 meters wide), which is fairly different from the one that was originally created.34 The moment you enter the space of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel you find yourself in the area of the chapel’s vestibule. [FIG. 4] The mosaic decoration on the walls was originally all over the atrium. There are only two large mosaic areas on the walls that have resisted time: the first one is in the corner, between the northern and western wall; the second mosaic fragment is situated near the northern door, between the eastern and northern wall; and the third location of few small fragments is to be found on the western wall. The decorations of the atrium are based on frontal depictions of figures – both masculine and feminine. The plausible appearance of the vestibule’s decoration consists of six standing figures on both the western and the eastern wall. The number of figures on these walls is limited by the placement of three windows. In addition, there are twelve figures on each of the southern and

33 Laura Fieni – Luigi Salemi, La cappella di Sant’Aquilino a Milano, in: Architettura e materiali del Novecento, Venezia 2004, s. 663–672. 34 Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, p. 158.

- 28 - northern walls that are divided into two vertical registers. [FIG.5] Every single figure surrounded by columns is depicted against the blue background with its name written in gold near its head. [FIG. 6] Thanks to the written name, it is quite easy to understand who the figures represent and what kind of groups they create – saints, martyrs, church fathers and apostles.35 These thematical groups are divided into two vertical registers, as was already mentioned and the hierarchy is created due to their religious positions. The only inconvenience is that a lot of names and figures are missing because of the place degradation, its rebuilding or previous restorations. The second essential decorative piece within the space of the chapel’s atrium is a marble portal (4.10×2.62 meters wide).36 The richly decorated portal is full of figurative motifs – carriages with horses, horses on their own or horsemen. Figurative scenes divided into two vertical bands are framed by ornamental motifs imitating flora. [FIG. 7] Another space that is going to be presented is the main area of the chapel that is situated within the octagonal plan. It creates a space consisting of two different types of closures (a semicopula apse and a rectangular shaped one) that alternate. [FIG. 8] Above, there is a transit gallery with a barrel vault and semi-circular arches. To be honest, it is a challenging task, to describe the original decoration of the chapel because of its today’s appearance. All its walls are painted white and that is why the original decorative cycle, indeed, if it is conserved, may be hidden underneath. The mentioned fact continues to be the current concern of many scholars. There are two areas with original mosaic decorations in the southeastern and southwestern semicopulas. There is also an original fresco painting that imitates various types of marble within the space of the transit gallery. [fig. 9] The ceiling is covered with paintings of octagonal shaped medallions, sort of tiles. Within these bordered areas, faunal figures, namely birds, are depicted. [FIG. 10]

35 Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, pp. 64–67. 36 Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, p. 162.

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It is desirable to continue with a description of the mentioned semicopulas. Let us have a look at the first one, the fairly well-preserved southwestern mosaic with a golden background. [FIG. 11] It is a scene showing the main figure of a young man with a golden nimbus, sitting on a kind of a throne in the centre. His right arm is raised above his head and his left hand is holding a rotoli. There are six masculine figures of different ages wearing togas on both sides of the depicted scene. In front of the enthroned young figure is a vessel with more volumes. The entire scene is easily identified as Traditio Legis or the Christ between the Apostles.37 The second preserved mosaic is located in the southeast semicopula; however, it is not in good condition. [FIG. 12] The composition consists of three still visible masculine figures wearing chitons or some type of tunics – two of them on the left and the third one on the right. On the left, the first man’s right hand is pointing to heaven and his left hand is holding a cane. The still visible part of the second man is a sitting body on a rock and a fragment of his headwear. The man on the right side is lying on the ground with his legs crossed and his right hand behind his head, while his left hand holding a volume. All of the figures are surrounded by fauna and flora – sheep, cows, green grass with flowers, a waterfall on the left side and mountains in the background. The whole mosaic is crowned by the heavenly scene – only a part of which is visible today. Nevertheless, it is still possible to recognize two white horses galloping against the glittering golden sky – the Kingdom of Heaven. However, the interpretation of this scene is not unique and will be discussed below. Both of these mosaics are bordered with colourful ornamental bands that create kind of a frame. . . Relevant historical documents and sketches – the outlook It is not only the present condition of the monument that is truly appealing. Thanks to many historical figures, there is potential to

37 Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, pp. 70–73.

- 30 - reconstruct a plausible appearance of the chapel over the centuries, which is crucial for the following research. Even though there is a relatively huge number of sketches or descriptions of the whole church or the chapel itself, they are not often precise or entirely detailed. Furthermore, sometimes the records seem to be false or even fictional because of the scholars’ attempt to embellish their hypotheses to support the plausible theory. Scholars cannot claim almost anything for sure from what has been found until now, however, the following evidence should at least lead us towards the right direction. Almost nothing precise has been said, yet some valuable information has been shown thanks to these documents.

The first relevant argument came from the pope Alexander II. (1015–1073) in half of the 11th century. He spoke about a chapel full of mosaics and marble, which had been dedicated to St. Genesio and where bodies of Galla Placidia and the emperor Astulf dwelt.38 Two centuries later, an Italian writer, Gotofredus de Bussero (born about the year 1220) mentioned the chapel of St. Genesio, again. He brought attention to the “golden wallpapers,” which were on walls inside the chapel and supposed to allegorically celebrate the martyr.39 Now, we have got to the point when it is necessary to refer to frequently repeated evidence about the church and finally about the chapel itself. An Italian Galvano Fiamma (1283–1344) wrote two chronicles Chronica extravagans de antiquitatibus and Chronica maius in the 14th century.40 In his piece of work there are two short fragments of the text, which are essential for us:

38 Giovan Pietro Puricelli, Laurentii Littae Vita, p. 275, XIX; Laudadeo Testi, La forma primitiva delle gallerie lombarde e Cappella di S. Aquilino nel S. Lorenzo Maggiore di Milano (n. 2), p.22. 39 Gotofredus de Bussero, Liber notitiae sanctorum Mediolani, in Biblioteca Ambrosiana, G. 306 inf. F. 81 n. 275; Laudadeo Testi, La forma primitiva delle gallerie lombarde e Cappella di S. Aquilino nel S. Lorenzo Maggiore di Milano, Messina 1902, p. 22. 40 The material is given by A. Calderini (Aristide Calderini, Gino Chierici, Carlo Cecchelli, La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1951, p. 36); Antonio Ceruti,

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"At the place, which is nowadays called the Church of San Lorenzo, the emperor Maximianus let constructed and dedicated to Hercules…afterwards, the empress Galla Placidia commissioned a circular chapel, which supposed to be erected next to the church…and underneath the “cappella reginae,” the queen dwells."41 Fiamma wrote not only about the founder or the magnificence of the sacral structure but also about the decoration of the chapel, which is an important moment for the thesis itself. The chapel’s decoration should have been composed of figurative mosaics and, of course, omnipresent marble panels.42 Fiamma refers to the Church of San Lorenzo as well as Sant Aquilino’s chapel. Moreover, Fiamma admires their grandiosity with words such as "a magnificence house…which is full of beauty and a victory of Italia."43 In the 15th century, the time of creating drawings started. An Italian architect Giuliano da Sangallo (1445–1516) visited the city of Milano, and then in 1492 created a drawing of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel interior. [FIG. 13] Sangallo stated that the origins of the chapel were obviously antique. During his visit in 1492, he created a drawing of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel interior. Thanks to his sketches we are able to

Chronicon extravagans et Chronicon maius auctore Galvaneo Flamma, Miscellanea di storia italiana, Milano 1869, pp. 82–118. 41 The original text reading: “In loco ubi nunc dicitur ecclesia sancti Laurentii, imperator Maximianus ad honorem dei Herculis . . . construxerat fanum rotondum" . . . "[In processu temporis quedam regina dicta galla Patritia que] in latere istius ec clesiae construxit capellam rotundam . . . et dicitur capella reginae, ubi ipsa dormit;" Ibidem, pp. 82–118. 42 Ivan Foletti, De la liminaité à la présence. Les copules milanaises, leurs decorations et la naissance du Moyen Âge, in: Entre terre et ciel. Les édifices à coupole at elur décor entre l’Antiquité tardive et le haut Moyen Âge (ed. by Chiara Croci and Vladimir Ivanovici), Lausane 2018, pp. 125–139. 43 The original text reading: "domum mirificam ... quae sua pulchritudine universa paene aedificia superat Italiae;" Galvano Fiamma, La cronaca estravagante di Galvano Fiamma a cura di Sante Ambrogio Céngarle Parisi (ed. by Massimiliano David and Paolo Chiesa), Milano 2013, pp. 625.

- 32 - claim that the floor was made of porphyry, marble and mosaics on the walls. In that same year, he also created the graphical documentation of the whole church of San Lorenzo.44 [FIG. 14] Then, due to several interventions of the 16th century, there are few detailed records about the interior. Although they are very specific and mostly concerned only with small particular details, it is still possible to find this brief but relevant paragraph in a book by Carlo Bascapé (1550–1615): “The chapel of S. Genesio that is called S. Aquilino, is bigger than the other chapels and that is why it could look like a separate church with truly beautiful vault […] And this chapel of the admired antique, totally filled up with an antique manner of work with mosaics […]45 At the outset, there are a few notices concerning the extract above that should be made. Firstly, there is no mention of the founder of the chapel. And secondly, the chapel is praised mainly because of its antique qualities and the techniques of the period. It is necessary to perceive the following century as the time of increased interests in visits to the church and also the chapel of St. Aquilino. In 1608, the archbishop Federico Borromeo (1564–1631) paid a visit to the chapel. The Milanese archbishop referred to his pastoral visitation, when he enjoyed the sight of the splendid mosaics in the chapel’s interior, with these words:46 "Because…in the upper part [of the dome of Sant’Aquilino’chapel], there is the God with some angels, open gospels, and they will be together."47

44 Siena, Biblioteca comunale, cod. S IV 8, ff. 18v-18r. Cfr. Gatti Perer; Massimiliano David, De aurea ecclesia Genesii, in: Milano ritrovata: La via sacra da San Lorenzo al duomo (ed. by Maria Luisa Gatti Perer), Milano 1991, p. 49. 45 The original text reading: "La capella di s. Genesio, che si dice s. Aquilino, grande piu delle altre si che pare chiesa separata, con belissima volta […] E questa capella di veneranda antichita tutta ornata di antico lavoro a musaico […] Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, Carlo Bascapé, De metropoli Mediolanensi, Rome 1592. 46 Massimiliano David, De aurea ecclesia Genesii, in: Milano ritrovata: La via sacra da San Lorenzo al duomo (ed. by Maria Luisa Gatti Perer), Milano 1991, p. 49. 47 The original text reading:

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These words are a record of Borromeo’s feelings while he entered the chapel. Another and a little bit longer statement follows: “The chapel of Sant Aquilino is situated on the southern side of the church of Saint Lawrence the Major and is known under the entitlement of Saint Genesius martyr. It is said by an antique tradition that it was built by Galla Placidia, daughter of Emperor Theodosius and wife of the king of the Goths Athaulf. It is an octagonal, furnished with notable ancient works, in fact with extremely elaborated mosaic.”48 He spoke about the sacral space as a masterpiece of antiquity, which is full of mosaics. Once again, even the archbishop repeats the same words describing the space as were already mentioned before. In 1674, Carlo Torre’s drawings appeared in a book called Il ritratto di Milano [FIG. 15]:49 "Long ago, this rotunda was made, made of mosaic paintings. And I observed its dome many times. It is supported by arches that are holding round plates of marble between each other."50 After this description of the beauty of the interior, he continued and added that it had been reconstructed:

“Nam in superiori parte Deum Patrem cum nonnullis angelis astantibus, evangeliis apertis in signum pietatis in populum continent;” Archivio storico diocesano di Milano, Visite pastorali, Milano, S. Lorenzo, vol. V, pp. 111–112. 48 The original text reading: “Oratorium seu sacellum sancti Aquilini quod a latere meridionali ecclesiae sancti Laurentii Maioris situm est sub titulo et invocatione sancti Genesii martyris a Galla Placidia Theodosii imperatoris filia et Astulphi Gothorum regis uxore ex vetustissima traditione constructum dictur. Est autem octangulum, fornicatum, insigni praestantique opere, nempe mosaico, eximie elaboratum;” Ibidem, pp. 111–112. 49 Carlo Torre–Federico Agnelli ac., Il ritratto di Milano: diviso in tre libri, Milano 1674, pp. 83–158. 50 The original text reading: "vecchiamente questa rotonda era tutta fatta a pitture musaiche, ed io osservai piu volte sua cupola in tal positura, tenendo anche tra l'un arco, e l'altro, lastre rotonde di marmi preziosi;" Ibidem, pp. 148–150.

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“"Then a few years later, the mosaics were undone altogether, and the marble round plates were removed as well.".”51 This short text speaks about how the modern period treated the decoration and how the original decoration was covered with a new one. [fig. 16]

Finally, there are two highly crucial testimonies that speak about the appearance of the chapel’s cupola in the 17th century.52 The first one was written by Giuseppe Milani and is called Vita santissima del beato.53 There is a short part of Milani’s text that reacts to the interventions which took place during the 17th century: "The most noble church, formerly called the chapel of the Queen, Galla Placidia, a daughter of an emperor Theodosius the Great and is dedicated to the martyr St. Genesio, exposed to the obvious threatening danger of destruction – the most artificial mosaic that from time to time fall down the top of the chapel. And also, it was remarkably restored in the year 53 and 54 [about the baroque renovation in the 17th century]. It was admirably refreshed and adorned with modern works."54 It is by no means an exhausting description of the modern treatment; however, it helps to understand the adjustments that led to the space transformation.

51 The original text wording: “poscia alcuni anni solo, disfaccendosi del tutto il musaico, e levando le rotonde lasre;” Carlo Torre–Federico Agnelli ac., Il ritratto di Milano: diviso in tre libri, Milano 1674, pp. 148–150. 52 Massimiliano David, De aurea ecclesia Genesii, in: Milano ritrovata: La via sacra da San Lorenzo al duomo (ed. by Maria Luisa Gatti Perer), Milano 1991, p. 50. 53 Ibidem, p. 50 (Giuseppe Milani, 1658). 54 The original text reading: “La nobilissima sua chiesa, anticamente chiamata la cappella della Regina, cioe di Galla Placidia, figliuola di Theodocio Imperatore, il Grande, et dedicata al martire San Genesio, minacciava pericolo manifesto di rovina, et l'artificiosissimo suo mosaico da quando in quando cadeva dalla sommita; et ecco pure nell'anno cinquantatre et cunquantaquattro ella e stata mirabilmente ristorat, et ornata con lavori moderni;” Ibidem, pp. 50–51 (Giuseppe Milani)

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The second testimony is a record of an English traveller from the 17th century, Ralph Symonds, who was firstly mentioned by Massimiliano David.55 Thanks to his sketches a lot of hypotheses were either confirmed or disproved. He did not forget to sketch the sarcophagi inside and also assigned one of them to Galla Placidia.56 He drew not only the sketches of the still remaining mosaics in the apses but also of the whole mural cycle in the chapel with Christ surrounded by angels in the cupola.57 [FIG. 17] . . . The retouched space – restoration interventions and research

“There is nothing which is eternal, neither ore nor marble.”58

At first, it is necessary to refer shortly to the reconstructions that were done over the centuries and to the time before interventions of conservators from the beginning of the 20th century. The whole church was reconstructed many times and that was because of several collapses of the cupola (10th century, 1071, 1124, 1573).59 They also raised the level of the ground during the 16th–18th centuries and in the 16th century even the altar completed the space.60 Afterwards, Ambrogio Annoni discovered the foundations of the chapel where he found stones coming from the nearby amphitheatre and added the permanent staircase behind the altar in 1913.61 His

55 Massimiliano David, De aurea ecclesia Genesii, in: Milano ritrovata: La via sacra da San Lorenzo al duomo (ed. by Maria Luisa Gatti Perer), Milano 1991, p. 50. 56 Ibidem, pp. 50–52. 57 Ibidem, p. 51. 58 Andreas Gryphius, Menschliches Elend and Es ist alles eitel (no. 25), pp. 94–95. 59 On the basis of the italian project “Non esiste in tutto il mondo una chiesa più bella” originated in 2015; Silvia Lusuardi Siena–Elisabetta Neri, Tracce dell’antico splendore della basilica di S. Lorenzo Maggiore a Milano. Parrocchia di S. Lorenzo Maggiore: La cappella di S. Aquilino, Milano 2015, p. 1. 60 Ibidem, p. 1. 61 Soprintendente Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Milano; Antonella Ranaldi, Il Progetto di Restauro della Cappella di Sant’Aquilino, Milano 2018, La conferenza stampa di presentazione del progetto si è tenuta LUNEDÌ 12 FEBBRAIO 2018

- 36 - discovery is not very revealing for the thesis, however, the eight levels of stone blocks (7, 55 m) that were found by Annoni under the ground level of the chapel are fairly noteworthy.62

1910–1911 1935–1938 1980–1981 2015/2018

The beginning of the 20th century As has been already remarked in the chapter dedicated to the state of research, there was quite a high number of restoration interventions. The first period of examination of the space started in 1910 and continued until the end of the year 1911.63 Shortly after, Joseph Wilpert wrote his seminal Die römischen Mosaiken der kirlichen Bauten vom IV–XIII. Jahrhunderts, where he also made a reference to the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino.64 Until the year 1900, scholars did not know anything about the chapel or the decorations of its interior. The fundamental scene created in mosaic – the probable Ascension of Elijah – was discovered just after 1900.65 Wilpert is the one who had the honour to be the first to work on the mosaics. He recorded every detail and continued systematically. He also detected that the mosaics had already been treated by restaurateurs before. The only scene that partly evaded interventions, was the one with Jesus Christ and the twelve apostles.66 Wilpert’s task in the chapel of Sant’Aquilino was to analyse the

presso la Basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore ‐ Cappella Cittadini; look at: http://www.architettonicimilano.lombardia.beniculturali.it/?p=8036, 17-02-2019. 62 Laura Fieni–Luigi Salemi, La cappella di Sant’Aquilino a Milano (no. 48), p. 664. 63 Per Jonas Nordhagen, Working with Wilpert. The Illustrations in Die römischen Mosaiken und Malereien and their Source Value, in: Acta ad Archaelogiam et Artivm Historiam Pertinentia (ed. Hjalmar Torp ac.), vol. V, Roma 1985, p. 252. 64 Joseph Wilpert, Die römischen Mosaiken der kirlichen Bauten vom IV– XIII. jahrhundert (no. 16), p. 31–35. 65 Per Jonas Nordhagen, The mosaics of the Cappella di S. Aquilino in Milan (no. 15), p. 77–94. 66 Joseph Wilpert, Die römischen Mosaiken der kirlichen Bauten vom IV– XIII. jahrhundert (no. 16), p. 31–35

- 37 - condition and the original surface of every piece of the mosaic.67 He noted a few solid issues: firstly, the sharp modelling of the costumes; and secondly, a surface crack, which runs vertically through the scene, and also, the high percentage of loss of the gold surface of tesserae.68

1910–1911 1935–1938 1980–1981 2015/2018

The 30s of the 20th century Other interventions came with the year of 1935 and lasted until 1938.69 Once again, sometime after the end of the examinations of the

1930s, Ildefonso Schuster wrote Sant’Ambrogio e le più antiche basiliche milanesi.70 In the book, he reflected all the results that the interventions had brought and thanks to the restoration assessments analysed the church fairly completely. What is known about the work in Sant’Aquilino’s chapel in the years between 1935–1938? P. J. Nordhagen found not just the records about the restoration interventions from the

1930s but also of the examination done by the Norwegian Institute in Rome in 1975–1976.71 The documentation from the 1935–1938 is not very breathtaking, but still, there are a few particular fragments of text that could be relevant. He found preserved correspondence in the files of the Soprintendenza dei Monumenti in Milan. This kind of letter exchange was going on between the Superintendent and the Opificio delle Pietre

67 Per Jonas Nordhagen, Working with Wilpert. The Illustrations in Die römischen Mosaiken und Malereien and their Source Value, in: Acta ad Archaelogiam et Artivm Historiam Pertinentia (ed. by Hjalmar Torp ac.), vol. V, Roma 1985, p. 253. 68 Joseph Wilpert, Die römischen Mosaiken der kirlichen Bauten vom IV– XIII. jahrhundert, Basel 1913, p. 31–35 69 Aristide Calderini, Gino Chierici, Carlo Cecchelli, La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1951, pp. 156–167. 70 See Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, Sant'Ambrogio e le più antiche basiliche milanesi, in: Note di archeologia cristiana. Vita e pensiero, Mailand 1940. 71 Per Jonas Nordhagen, Working with Wilpert. The Illustrations in Die römischen Mosaiken und Malereien and their Source Value, in: Acta ad Archaelogiam et Artivm Historiam Pertinentia (ed. by Hjalmar Torp ac.), vol. V, Roma 1985, p. 252.

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Dure at Florence72 and the already mentioned worker, who is known only by the initials L.B. The worker L.B. is truly mesmerized by “the delicate work of extraction, consolidation and restoration”73 of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel. He speaks mostly about the work process. It is also possible to discover what he worked with in the chapel of Sant’Aquilino: “Thus, my task is comprehensive. It involves two small half cupolas with mosaics to restore, there are extractions (stacchi) to do and lost part I do not know how large since they are covered with painted mortar, and for the part that is missing I do not know whether it will be remade or left as it is, Then, there is another large chapel (the narthex) where there were mosaics everywhere including the window openings… with geometric patterns and figures on the walls; of this only a few fragments remain here and there; taken altogether it amounts to about 304 square meters which will all be disengaged and put back again …”74 In the correspondence of L.B. to authorities, we can read about specific parts of the chapel that should be reconstructed and due to this information, we can imagine and follow individual stages of decorations. Another fundamental text of technical concern reads as follows: “We have received the parcel with glass material (smalti) sent by you … In fact, what we needed most was the gold (il dorato) which the Opificio has acquired from Venice.”75 According to this record, we know that they used a lot of gold tesserae for the reconstruction and that they ordered it from a Venice master called Angelo Orsoni. The worker L.B. also mentions that they finished Christ with the Apostles but still, they have to continue with the second mosaic, which is badly preserved.76

72 Per Jonas Nordhagen, The mosaics of the Cappella di S. Aquilino in Milan, in: Acta ad archaelogiam at atrium historiam pertinetia, vol. VIII, Roma 1982, p. 92. 73 The original text reading: “estrazione, consolidamento e restauro della cappella di Sant‘Aquilino;” Ibidem, p. 92. 74 Per Jonas Nordhagen, The mosaics of the Cappella di S. Aquilino in Milan, in: Acta ad archaelogiam at atrium historiam pertinetia, vol. VIII, Roma 1982, p. 92. 75 Ibidem, p. 93. 76 Ibidem, p. 93.

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1910–1911 1935–1938 1980–1981 2015/2018

The 80s of the 20th century

th Reactions to the interventions from the 80s of the 20 century are extensive, mostly because of different attitudes and also diverse viewpoints. One of the scientific publications about the chapel was written by two Italian authors – Laura Fieni and Luigi Salemi.77 It deals with the microclimatic atmosphere of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino in the context of the executed restorations. All of the modern interventions caused most of the climatic changes. Once again, the text is based on the work of Calderini, Chierichi and Cecchelli from 1951.78 Fieni and Salemi also refer to the works of Ambrogio Annoni (1911–1913) and Gina Chierichi (1938–1940). Due to the reconstructions of the inner space of the chapel, the atmosphere in the chapel has been modified and the historic site is now in danger. Modern materials and technologies do not help this state either. On the basis of Annoni’s observations, Gina Chierichi located a system of pipelines.79 The discovery confirmed the theory about the chapel being a baptistery for many scholars.80

1910–1911 1935–1938 1980–1981 2015/2018 After the year 2000 Recently, the chapel underwent quite big renovations and was newly open to the public. Also, information boards were installed inside and are based on the chapel’s research that has been conducted so far. They were prepared in cooperation with Soprintendente Archeologia,

77 Laura Fieni – Luigi Salemi, La cappella di Sant’Aquilino a Milano, in: Architettura e materiali del Novecento, Venezia 2004, 78 Aristide Calderini, Gino Chierici, Carlo Cecchelli, La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1951. 79 Laura Fieni – Luigi Salemi, La cappella di Sant’Aquilino a Milano, in: Architettura e materiali del Novecento, Venezia 2004, pp. 665–666. 80 For example: C. Ceccheli’s opinion in: Aristide Calderini, Gino Chierici, Carlo Cecchelli, La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1951; I. Schuster’s thesis in: Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, Sant'Ambrogio e le più antiche basiliche milanesi, in: Note di archeologia cristiana. Vita e pensiero, Mailand 1940.

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Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Milano and scholars, such as Silvia Lusuardi Siena or Elisabetta Neri.81 E. Neri lately also wrote some important research papers on the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino.82 The whole project is called “Non esiste in tutto il mondo una chiesa più bella,” because of the historical figure of an Italian bishop Benzo d’Alba (died ca. 1089), who uttered these words about the whole church of San Lorenzo in the 11th century.83 In these days, the chapel of Sant’Aquilino is under the reconstruction, again. These works will probably last until June 2019.84

Summary The beginning of interventions was more focused on the architectural aspects of the Chapel of San’Aquilino. However, with the discovery of the hidden mosaic decoration, the interest moved to the original iconography. Afterwards, a tendency to classify the style of the structure and stylistically analyse it turned up in the 1970s–1980s. With the new epoch, also a new approach arrived and scholars tried to perceive the building in a wider context. Therefore, it is possible to say that fundamental discoveries were done recently.

81 Elisabetta Neri, Il complesso di San Lorenzo Maggiore – nuove riflessioni, in: Silvia Lusuardi Siena e Elisabetta Neri, "Non esiste in tutto il mondo una chiesa più bella," Milano 2015, p. 19. 82 For recent Neri’s articles about the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino look at: Elisabetta Neri, "Desuper tegens universa musivum" le décor des coupoles du complexe de Saint-Laurent à Milan, in: Entre terre et ciel. Les édifices à coupole at elur décor entre l’Antiquité tardive et le haut Moyen Âge (ed. Chiara Croci and Vladimir Ivanovici), Lausane 2018, pp. 43–64; Elisabetta Neri, Le pittura della galleria superiore della cappella di S. Aquilino a Milano: i motivi e le tecniche nel loro spazio architettonico, in: Rivista di archeologia, 41, Venezia 2018, pp. 125–149; Elisabetta Neri, Il complesso di San Lorenzo Maggiore – nuove riflessioni, in: Silvia Lusuardi Siena e Elisabetta Neri, "Non esiste in tutto il mondo una chiesa più bella," Milano 2015, pp. 19–38. 83 Silvia Lusuardi Siena–Elisabetta Neri, Tracce dell’antico splendore della basilica di S. Lorenzo Maggiore a Milano. Parrocchia di S. Lorenzo Maggiore: La cappella di S. Aquilino, p. 7. 84 Information that was given me via email correspondence during these months of working on the bachelor thesis from Parrochia di S. Lorenzo; email address: [email protected]

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/// THE CHAPEL’S DATING AND ITS FOUNDER

The following chapter continues with the question, which has been presented on the previous pages, including mainly the dating and the founder of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino. In this particular case, these two aspects of the chapel are closely connected, not only with each other but also in the context of the entire complex of the Basilica San Lorenzo. Therefore, it is fundamental to proceed with the chapter in the right order: firstly, we have to look at plausible hypotheses of the dating of the Basilica of San Lorenzo itself, regard the historical context; secondly, we need to go mainly through historical sources from the 6th to the 16th centuries – for this time – with a focus on the dating and foundation of the complex via the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino. However, before we get to the part with the written sources, we should proceed to the crucial point of this chapter. Laura Fieni’s archaeological excavation, which is accepted by many scholars, and can direct us along with the historical evidence to the following task of this chapter – to present the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino in the historical context. Conclusions of previous sections will expose two possible periods of Sant’Aquilino’s construction to us. The last there is the founder of the Milanese chapel, who would be defined through the suggested dating, archaeological excavations, written sources and a historical context. A . The dating of the Laurentian complex This chapter should start with a summary of more or less confirmed information about the dating of the Laurentian complex. For the start, it is necessary to say that there are no period sources about an architectural structure in Milan which would have been called the Basilica of San Lorenzo.85

85 Dale Kinney, The Evidence for the Dating of San Lorenzo in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 31 no. 2, (May, 1972), p. 92.

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Scholars are convinced that it is not possible there would be no mention of an edifice as marvellous as the Milanese one. Krautheimer pointed out that there are mentions of the Portziana however, not of any particular basilica called the Basilica of San Lorenzo, that came only later. 86 In connection with this belief, a few hypotheses were purposed. It is crucial to present the main three periods of plausible construction of the entire San Lorenzo. The first one began to gain its credibility with the great book La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano. Calderini, Chierici, and Ceccheli held the view that the Laurentian complex must have been constructed in 370s. The hypothesis has appeared in print so often that it has gained credence in recent years by virtue of sheer repetition.87 The second one is the direct opposite. It is a hypothesis based on archaeological excavations, which point towards the beginning of the 5th century.88 And the last statement about the dating has been done by Richard Krautheimer, who started to claim that the time of construction is placed around 380s. Nevertheless, it is not only a figure of R. Krautheimer, but there are also more art historians, who agree on the end of the 4th century.89

86 Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987; Dale Kinney, The Evidence for the Dating of S. Lorenzo in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 31 no. 2, California (May, 1972), pp. 92– 107. 87 See Aristide Calderini, Gino Chierici, Carlo Cecchelli, La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1951; from Suzanne Lewis, San Lorenzo Revisited: A Theodosian Palace Church at Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol.32 no. 3, California (Oct. 1973), p. 197. 88 Elisabetta Neri, Il complesso di San Lorenzo Maggiore – nuove riflessioni, in: Silvia Lusuardi Siena e Elisabetta Neri, "Non esiste in tutto il mondo una chiesa più bella," Milano 2015, pp. 19–38; Markus Löx, Die Kiche San Lorenzo in Mailand: Eine Stiftung des Stilicho?, in: Bullettino dell’Istituto Archeologico Germanico Sezione Romana, vol. 114, 2008, pp. 407–439. 89 Walter Eugene Kleinbauer, Toward a Dating of San Lorenzo in Milan, in: ArtLomb, vol. 13, 1968, pp. 12–16; Dale Kinney, The Evidence for the Dating of S. Lorenzo in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 31 no. 2, California (May, 1972), pp. 92–107.

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Now it is time to establish the earliest dating of the sacral complex. As far as we know, San Lorenzo in Milan was built on foundations consisting of re-used building material from the nearby amphitheatre.90 Around 385, Ausonius in his Ordo urbium nobilium ranked Milano as the 7th richest city of the entire Roman Empire and he glorified its wealth and the beauty of Milanese buildings: the “numberless elegant mansions,” the double fortification, the enlargement of the town, the circus, the churches (templa), the palace, the mint, the Thermae Herculianae – “large like a city quarter,” the colonnades (perhaps colonnaded streets filled with sculptures) and what is important for us – the theatre.91 It is possible to assume that the theatre mentioned by Ausonius could have been the many times recalled amphitheatre, whose stone blocks are not only under Sant’Aquilino but also the entire Laurentian complex.92 But is it

90 Markus Löx, Die Kirche San Lorenzo in Mailand: eine Stiftung des Stilicho?, in: “Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts. Römische Abteilung,” vol. 114, 2008, pp. 407-438. 91 The quotation is from the Ordo urbium nobilium of Ausonius (LCL, I : 272): Et Mediolani mira omnia, copia rerum innumerae cultaeque domus, facunda virorum ingenia et mores laeti; tum duplice muro amplificata loci species populique voluptas circus et inclusi moles cuneata theatri; templa Palatinaeque arces opulensque moneta et regio Herculei celebris sub honore lavacri; cunctaque marmoreis ornata peristylia signos moeniaque in valli formam circumdata limbo: excellent: nec iuncta permit vicinia Romae. See Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica pp. 70–71. 92 See Joseph Wilpert, Die römischen Mosaiken der kirlichen Bauten vom IV–XIII. jahrhundert, Basel 1913; Massimiliano David, De aurea ecclesia Genesii, in: Milano ritrovata: La via sacra da San Lorenzo al duomo (Maria Luisa Gatti Perer ed.), Milano 1991, pp. 49–61; Ivan Foletti, Il trionfo della figura: Sant’Aquilino, San Vittore in Ciel d’oro a Milano e la retorica del V secolo, in: Medioevo, natura e figura, Milano 2015, s. 129–137; Elisabetta Neri, "Desuper tegens universa musivum" le décor des coupoles du complexe de Saint-Laurent à Milan, in: Entre terre et ciel. Les édifices à coupole at elur décor entre l’Antiquité tardive et le

- 44 - probable that Ausonius would have named “the amphitheatre” only “the theatre” and would have not specified it? At this moment, it is essential to give a definition of these two terms. Obviously, there were architectural differences in these structures – the Greek one was constructed as a semi-circle shape while the Roman was in a full circle shape. That is why the Roman theatres are actually called amphitheatres, which can be translated from the Greek “amphi” - on both sides.93 In Rome, the amphitheatres opened their scene also for other performances, not only theatrical ones. Afterwards, the amphitheatres transformed into places of various events and that never happened with theatres in Greece, which were used only for dramatic plays.94 If we connect this definition with a real situation in 4th century Milan, we have to turn our attention to records about the city itself.95 Milanese records speak only about the Roman amphitheatre and no other building of a theatre, and I believe, in reality, these two structures might have been actually the same one.96

haut Moyen Âge (ed. by Chiara Croci and Vladimir Ivanovici), Lausane 2018, pp. 43–64. 93 See A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (William Smith, William Wayte and G. E. Marindin, ed.), London 1891, pp. 83–97; Erka Simon, The Ancient Theatre, London/ New York 1982; Vitruvius, The Ten Books on Architecture (ed. by Herbert Langford Warren), Cambridge 1914. 94 J. B. Ward-Perkins, Cities of ancient Greece and Italy: planning in Classical Antiquity (ed. by George Braziller), London 1974, pp. 23–36. 95 For more about what was believed before the underground excavation: The edifice was demolished during a Barbarian attack on Milan, as it was located outside the walls and could therefore be used as stronghold by the attackers. The date of the event is uncertain, however: it could be 402, during the Visigothic invasion of Italy, or in 452, when northern Italy was ravaged by Attila, or during the Gothic Wars (6th century). See Herbert W. Benario, Amphitheatres of the Roman World, in: The Classical Journal, vol. 76 no. 3, (Feb., 1981), p. 257. 96 The amphitheatre was built near the Porta Ticinese ("Ticino Gate") in the 2nd- 3rd centuries AD when Mediolanum grew as economical and political importance while Rome declined. It remained in use until the city was one of the capitals of the Western Roman Empire (4th or 5th centuries). Later it was abandoned after Christianity imposed an end to arena games, but also as, in the wake of the imperial crisis, animals to be used in the amphitheatre were no longer imported.

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In addition, there exist notes made by Claudian and Paulinus, which indicate that the amphitheatre was still in use by the time of 396.97 Paulinus spoke about the amphitheatre in connection with the arrest of a certain Cresconius in that year.98 On the basis of this reference two scholars came to very different conclusions: on one side Dale Kinney claims that there is nothing that indicates, with certainty, that the amphitheatre described by Claudian and Paulinus is the original one and that it is still in a shape of a permanent stone building which is near the Via Ticinensis.99 On the other, Markus Löx is convinced that the amphitheatre was still standing in 396.100 In fact, there is no indication excluding the possibility of a different suitable public building used during this process with Cresconius. Perhaps, Paulinus, in his text, could have had as proposed already by Krauteheimer – a wooden kind of a temporary theatre on his mind.101 What is more, as Ludwig Friendlaender warned about the written authorities, which are

It became a quarry for construction stones as early as the 4th century AD, when the Basilica of San Lorenzo was built. Bibliografie See John Bryan Ward-Perkins, Imperial Mausolea and Their Prossible Influence on Early Christian Central-Plan Buildings, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, California 1966, pp. 297–299. 97 Markus Löx, Die Kiche San Lorenzo in Mailand: Eine Stiftung des Stilicho?, in: Bullettino dell’Istituto Archeologico Germanico Sezione Romana, vol. 114, 2008, p. 419. 98 In Paulinus of Milan’s Life of St. Ambrose (425), a man named Cresconius, “guilty of the gravest crimes,“ had sought refuge in the church. Soldiers sent by Count Stilicho entered and forcibly removed the man, “and the bishop long lay prostrate before, the altar of the Lord, shedding tears over the deed.“ The soldiers who violated the sanctuary, however, soon suffered divine retribution: leopards released at the amphitheatre leapt into the crowd and severely mauled the offenders. Count Stilicho repented, made amends to the bishop, and released Cresconius, sending him into exile. See Paulinus of Milan, Vita sancti Ambrosii (ed. by A. Bastiaensen), Milan 1975; cited also in: Maureen Catherine Miller, The Bishop’s Palace: Architecture and Authority in Medieval Italy, London 2000, p. 47. 99 Dale Kinney, The Evidence for the Dating of S. Lorenzo in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 31, n. 2, California (May, 1972), p. 100. 100 Markus Löx, Die Kiche San Lorenzo in Mailand: Eine Stiftung des Stilicho?, in: 419.. 101 Ibidem.

- 46 - sometimes ambiguous and untrustworthy when speaking about standing amphitheatres, because these kind of texts are often canonical and represent a certain type of a myth102 Friedlaender also added that an existence of many amphitheatres was stated only on the bases of terms, which supposed to indicate to buildings of the amphitheatres, such as cavae, arena, or Colosseum.103 However, neither of them was used in the case of the Milanese amphitheatre.104 Therefore, we cannot be sure with the date of the year 396, there is no acceptable proof of the fact that the city had at that point still a stone standing amphitheatre. In addition, the source, which is mentioned in connection with the Mediolanum amphitheatre is the one which, according to Friedlaender, is not absolutely reliable.105 I would suggest to believe to the source written by Ausonius. Even though there is no certain year of the destruction of the Milanese amphitheatre, I would side with the source, which is based on the real visit of the city and its exploration.

Now is the time, to start with the exact propositions, which range from the end of the 4th century to the beginning of the 5th century – the

102 Ludwig Friedlaender, Roman Life and Manners under the Early Empire, London 1908, p. 193. 103 Ibidem, pp. 193–194. 104 Ludwig Friedlaender, Roman Life and Manners under the Early Empire, London 1908, p. 193. 105 Mediolanum Santonum. Valesius (N.B., 502): Supersunt hodieque amphitheatri rudera ac reliquiae nobiles extra muros. Montfaucon as above. Milan, iv, p. 679. Chaudruc de Crazannes (Antiquités de Saintes, p. 72) on most insufficient grounds assigns the amphitheatre to the period between Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius. According to him it had room for 5000 sitting places (60 arcades – il en existe 2 principales – un seul étage de voutes inclines vers l’arѐne et une seule précinction). No traces have been found of arrangements for an awning; the lowness of the parapet of the arena makes it improbable that venationes took place in it. Caumont (pp. 486–490) doubts (and certainly with justice) whether it could have been flooded for naumachiae (Chaudruc, p. 81). See Ludwig Friedlaender, Roman Life and Manners under the Early Empire, London 1908, p. 220.

- 47 - period of Auxentius of Milan (355–374),106 Theodosius I. (379–395),107 or Flavio Stilicho (402–408)108 – we can simplify it with terms as pre- Ambrosian, Ambrosian or post-Ambrosian time of San Lorenzo’s erection.109 To support either of these hypotheses, archaeological excavation will be of help, Archaeological research represents the only relevant source – which is available – right after historical circumstances. . . A hypothesis of Richard Krautheimer: The Portziana Firstly, there is a highly plausible theory that is firmly supported by Richard Krautheimer or also his student Dale Kinney.110 This particular hypothesis regards a religious question and its context in Milanese history – Anti-Nicenes versus Nicenes, as R. Krautheimer

106 See Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987; Dale Kinney, The Evidence for the Dating of S. Lorenzo in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 31 n. 2, California (May, 1972), pp. 92–107; Elisabetta Neri, Il complesso di San Lorenzo Maggiore – nuove riflessioni, in: Silvia Lusuardi Siena e Elisabetta Neri, "Non esiste in tutto il mondo una chiesa più bella," Milano 2015, pp. 19–38; or Elisabetta Neri, Silvia L. Siena, Paola Greppi, Il problema della cronologia del cantiere di San Lorenzo a Milano, vecchi e nuovi dati a confronto, Milano 1986. 107 Salvatore Ruffulo, Le strutture murarie degli edifici paleocristiani milanesi, “rivista italiana di archeologia”, ns. 17, 1970 pp. 49-52, S; Ivan Foletti, Il trionfo della figura: Sant’Aquilino, San Vittore in Ciel d’oro a Milano e la retorica del V secolo, in: Medioevo, natura e figura, Milano 2015, pp. 129–137. 108 Enrico Cattaneo, Le vicende storiche, in La basilica di San Lorenzo a Milano, a. c. di G. dell’Acqua, pp. 13–37; Markus Löx,, Die Kirche San Lorenzo in Mailand: eine Stiftung des Stilicho?, in: “Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts. Römische Abteilung,” vol. 114, 2008, pp. 407–438. 109 See Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987. 110 See Ibidem; Dale Kinney, Cappella Reginae: S. Aquilino in Milano, in: Studies in the History of Art, vol. XV, 1970–1971, pp. 13–35; Dale Kinney, The Evidence for the Dating of S. Lorenzo in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 31 no. 2, California (May, 1972), pp. 92–107; Suzanne Lewis, San Lorenzo Revisited: A Theodosian Palace Church in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 32 no. 3, (Oct. 1973), California, pp. 197–222.

- 48 - named these religious factions of Arians and Anti-Arians.111 Krautheimer argued as follows: “The young emperor Gratian, at first inclined to tolerate anti-Nicene views – witness a decree of 378 and the fight in 378-379 over a church, of which more later – was pulled back to the path of orthodoxy by Ambrose. But the anti-Nicene cause was taken up fervently by the empress dowager Justina, and presumably under her influence, by the boy emperor Valentinian II in 386 with a renewed decree of - tolerance and a renewed fight for an “Arian” church in Milan.”112 Ambrose won over both heresy and temporal interference in his last battle, as Richard Krautheimer claimed. The major concern of Ambrose was the organization and the pastoral care and, of course, the strengthening of the “true” faith – by sermons, common prayers and hymns that are sung in chorus, by times of pagan and Arian persecution, and by the building of churches in their honour.113 Also, other scholars, such as Suzanne Lewis and John Bryan Ward-Perkins claim that the entire building was originally constructed as an Arian shrine, which must have been converted to the Anti-Arian one due to Ambrose’s pressure.114 To the hypothesis is supported by a proposition made by Richard Krautheimer in his Three Christian Capitals. Topography & Politics: Rome, Constantinople, Milan.115 He tried to prove, that the present basilica of San Lorenzo was initially named as the Portiana – the Arian church, which was a subject of some of Ambrose’s letters.116 Krautheimer supported his theory with a relevant point about the importance of the church. There is no chance

111 Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987, p. 72. 112 Ibidem. 113 Ibidem, 72–73. 114 See Suzanne Lewis, San Lorenzo Revisited: A Theodosian Palace Church in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 32 no. 3, (Oct. 1973), California, pp. 197–222; John Bryan Ward-Perkins, Imperial Mausolea and Their Prossible Influence on Early Christian Central-Plan Buildings, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, California 1966, pp. 297–299. 115 Richard Krautheimer, Three Christian Capitals. Topography & Politics: Rome, Constantinople, Milan, London 1983. 116 Saint Ambrose, De Sacramentis, 4th century.

- 49 - that something as significant as San Lorenzo would not have been mentioned by contemporaries – chroniclers, writers or clerics.117 However, he did not present any archaeological evidence, which would unquestionably confirm its Arian initiation. What is more, as far as the iconography of San Lorenzo is concerned, there is no valuable sign of Nicenes or Anti-Nicenes either.118 Krautheimer asserted the Portiana was taken up in 385 by Valentinian II, even though he was probably persuaded to do it by his mother Justina.119 In 386 an imperial decree granted freedom of worship also to anti-Nicenes – possibly based on the decree issued in 378 and revoked the year after.120 The justifying of the years, when the Portziana was standing proved by the period between 385–386 when the strength of the imperial court increased.121 He concluded his hypothesis with the information about a victory of Ambrose in 378–386, which is the dating that is the most plausible according to Krautheimer.122 ______If San Lorenzo was constructed as the cathedral of the anti- Nicene faction, strong at the court, its location suddenly becomes understandable. It is located close to the probable site of the palace near the circus and, most importantly, outside the city walls of Milan. Such

117 Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987, p. 73. 118 See Carlo Bertelli, I mosaici di Sant’Aquilino, in: La Basilica di San Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1983, pp. 145–169; Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, pp. 61– 82. 119 “Apparently, the “Arians” had a justified claim of some years’ standing to the Portiana which interlocked with claims by the imperial court. Relying on their increased strength in that ambient, they renewed their demands in 385-86.” See Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987, p. 89. 120 Walter Eugene Kleinbauer, Toward a Dating of San Lorenzo in Milan, in: ArtLomb, vol. 13, 1968, pp. 12–16. 121 Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987, p. 90. 122 Ibidem.

- 50 - location suggests a common practice of the 4th-century cities, such as Rome or Constantinople – to let the shrines of religious minority groups be erected in the suburbs.123 . . . Available archaeological materials As appealing as Kraitheimer’s hypothesis might be, it is not possible to believe it with certainty. A crucial moment in speaking about the dating of the basilica of San Lorenzo is the archaeological point of view. On that account, the following paragraphs will take into consideration also the archaeological research, which was done by Massimiliano David,124 or Elisabetta Neri125 and also by Markus Löx126 or Laura Fieni.127

Archaeological sources point to the different time period, which corresponds with the very end of the 4th century until the beginning of the 5th century. The evidence introduced by Neri is mainly adopted from Fieni’s studies, which are based on her research from 2000.128 That is why we can perhaps speak about Neri and Fieni at once. The main points resented in Neri’s article are: firstly, that the amphitheatre’s stone blocks are under the ground of the entire complex of San Lorenzo, therefore,

123 Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987, pp. 91–92. 124 Massimiliano David, Economia e propaganda in un grande cantiere dell’Italia Teodosiana. Il reimpiego nel complesso di S. Lorenzo a Milano, in: “Hortus artium medievalium,” vol. 17, 2011, pp. 29-38. 125 Elisabetta Neri, Silvia L. Siena, Paola Greppi, Il problema della cronologia del cantiere di San Lorenzo a Milano, vecchi e nuovi dati a confronto, Milano 1986. 126 Markus Löx, Die Kiche San Lorenzo in Mailand: Eine Stiftung des Stilicho?, in: Bullettino dell’Istituto Archeologico Germanico Sezione Romana, vol. 114, 2008, pp. 407–439. 127 Laura Fieni, La costruzione della Basilica di San Lorenzo a Milano, Milano 2005. 128 Laura Fieni, La basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore a Milano: analisi stratigrafica e datazione del complesso tardoantico, in: L’eredità di Monneret de Villard a Milano, Firenze 2004, pp. 8-96; Laura Fieni, L’architettura tardoantica, in: La costruzione della basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore a Milano, Milano 2004, p. 8; Laura Fieni, La basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore a Milano tra età tardoantica e medioevo: metodologie di indagine archeometrica per lo studio dell’elevato, in: “Archeologia dell’Architettura”, no. VII, Milano 2002, pp. 70-71.

- 51 - the whole construction of the basilica is connected with the destruction of the Milanese amphitheatre; secondly, the stratigraphic probing of the area found the individual layers of the basilica’s foundations; thirdly, Fieni also used archaeometry, which directs us to the last stated point by Elisabetta Neri, who compared materials, the type of mortar and also the manner of its adjustment used during the construction with other examples of architectural structures, which are firmly dated.129 According to the exploration, Neri stated the probable dating of mortar between the end of the 4th century and the 5th century. She brought bricks used during the construction of S. Simpliciano and S. Nazaro into the main focus when she spoke about the Laurentian complex. She is convinced that the construction of the Basilica San Lorenzo has to be dated somewhere between the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th century, because all the structures are made of long bricks with specific endings and she found out remains of ceramic vessels, which was not produced before the year 400, in the masonry.130 That again confirms the dating from the beginning of the 5th century till the end of the 6th century. Another important hypothesis is the one pronounced by Markus Löx.131 Obviously, M. Löx began with a fact that the dating of the entire complex is extremely disputable therefore, Chierici managed to compile a relatively chronological sequence of construction phases. Also, Löx is concerned with the question of the Milanese amphitheatre and he agrees for the dating between the 4th and 5th century.

129 Laura Fieni, L’architettura tardoantica, in: La costruzione della basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore a Milano, Milano 2004; Elisabetta Neri, Silvia L. Siena, Paola Greppi, Il problema della cronologia del cantiere di San Lorenzo a Milano, vecchi e nuovi dati a confronto, Milano 1986. 130 Laura Fieni, L’architettura tardoantica, in: La costruzione della basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore a Milano, Milano 2004, p. 9; Elisabetta Neri, Silvia L. Siena, Paola Greppi, Il problema della cronologia del cantiere di San Lorenzo a Milano, vecchi e nuovi dati a confronto, Milano 1986, pp. 19–35. 131 Markus Löx, Die Kiche San Lorenzo in Mailand: Eine Stiftung des Stilicho?, in: Bullettino dell’Istituto Archeologico Germanico Sezione Romana, vol. 114, 2008, pp. 407–439.

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Nevertheless, Markus Löx is greatly interested in San Lorenzo’s masonry, which leads him towards one of his conclusions. As Löx stated, Walter E. Kleinbauer relied on a previous investigation of the late Gothic masonry in Milan and a pre-Ambrosial dating proposal for the basilica of San Lorenzo.132 This happened at the time when the validity of such investigations was still considered very high. His approach to interpretation, however, brings with it some problems – Walter Eugene Kleinbauer carried out a comparison of masonry structures in the walls of San Lorenzo with those of the Ambrosian Basilica of the Apostles, securely dated 380–386.133 In contrast to the Ambrosian buildings, San Lorenzo's walls are not only considerably thicker, 1.20 m but also its new bricks are on the average a whole centimetre thicker, between 1.5 to 3.2 cm – opposed to heavy layers of mortar from 2.5 to 5 cm laid between the brick courses in the Basilica Apostolorum and San Simpliciano.134 Kleinbauer interpreted these crucial differences in masonry structures as a fundamental proof that churches founded by Ambrose were constructed as cheaply as possible, whereas no cost seems to have been spared for San Lorenzo.135 The generous layers of inexpensive mortar compensated the thinner bricks in the bishop’s buildings. It is clearly a question of the economy – the royal commission versus the Episcopal one, as Kleinbauer stated.136 Opus spicatum and a relatively thick layer of mortar speak about a pre-Ambrosial dating of foundations

132 Walter Eugene Kleinbauer, Toward a Dating of San Lorenzo in Milan, in: ArtLomb, vol. 13, 1968, pp. 12–16. 133 Walter Eugene Kleinbauer, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Rome: The Patronage of Emperor Constantius II and Architectural Invention, in: Gesta, vol. 45, no. 2, Chicago 2006, pp.125-145. 134 Suzanne Lewis, San Lorenzo Revisited: A Theodosian Palace Church at Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol.32 no. 3, California (Oct. 1973), p. 201. 135 See W. Eugene Kleinbauer, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Rome: The Patronage of Emperor Constantius II and Architectural Invention, in: Gesta, vol. 45 no. 2, Chicago 2006, pp.125-145; Suzanne Lewis, San Lorenzo Revisited: A Theodosian Palace Church at Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 32 no. 3, California (October, 1973), s. 197–222. 136 See Suzanne Lewis, San Lorenzo Revisited: A Theodosian Palace Church at Milan, pp. 201–202.

- 53 - of San Lorenzo, which is also Kleinbauer’s conclusion. However, since opus spicatum is also missing in post-Ambrosial buildings, American scholar Dale Kinney noted that only non-Ambrosial patronage of origin can be finally established.137 What is relevant that even Markus Löx refers to recent scientific investigations done by Laura Fieni, who dated the structure into the period between 390–410, as was already said. Löx holds the view that the plausible period of the construction should be extended. He also claims that even Fieni herself did point out the possible blurring of results of the investigation.138 Since results of the scientific investigation, on the one hand, do not permit a limitation to two decades, but on the other hand, do not contradict a dating of San Lorenzo at the turn of the 5th century, other arguments must be sought. Furthermore, Markus Löx has even refused the idea of a “palace church” proposed, for example, by Dale Kinney or also Suzanne Lewis and that in accordance with Deichmann’s paper, which was published shortly before papers of S. Lewis and D, Kinney.139 Deichmann stated that neither Constantine the Elder, his architects or even the high clergy would have seen a special meaning in the various types and spatial solutions or even certain liturgical and special ecclesiastical purposes.140 Consequently, there was no fixed building type for a palace church. Therefore, it is not surprising that none of the examples of imperial central buildings cited by Kinney and Lewis, which are said to have served as palace churches, can stand up to the critical scrutiny.141 ______

137 Dale Kinney, The Evidence for the Dating of S. Lorenzo in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 31, n. 2, California (May, 1972), pp. 103–104. 138 Laura Fieni, La costruzione della Basilica di San Lorenzo a Milano, Milano 2005, p. 215. 139 Friedrich Wilhelm Deichmann, Das Oktagon von Antiocheia: Heroon-Martyrion, Palastkirche oder Kathedrale?, in: ByzZ, vol. 65 no. 1, 1972, pp. 40−52. 140 Ibidem. 141 Markus Löx, Die Kiche San Lorenzo in Mailand: Eine Stiftung des Stilicho?, in: Bullettino dell’Istituto Archeologico Germanico Sezione Romana, vol. 114, 208, pp. 407–439.

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It is necessary to conclude with the excavation managed by Laura Fieni in 2000 once again. The area searching subsequently proved that the entire structure of San Lorenzo is, in the end, older than 370s, and it is rather in accordance with the reign of Theodosius I. than of Gratian.142 Let me remark that Fieni’s archaeological research established twenty years long period of San Lorenzo’s construction from 390 until 410, despite the fact that it had been agreed on the earlier date of the construction of the Laurentian complex corresponding with the 370s of the 4th century, before.143 The latest dating of the year 410 is related to the time of the reign of Honorius (395–423). As an emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Honorius moved the royal court from Milan to Ravenna however, as has been shown by Zuzana Frantová in her book Ravenna: Sedes Imperii. Artistic Trajectories in the Late Antique Mediterranean, the location of the capital city between 402–408 is still quite questionable.144 I will come back to this question on the following pages. B . The chapel of Sant’Aquilino as a subject of research Unfortunately, there is only a little information, which can lead us towards the convenient dating of the Laurentian complex including the chapel of Sant’Aquilino. The last aid, which can be offered to us –

142 In occasione del Giubileo del 2000 avvennero importanti lavori: le facciate esterne della Basilica vennero ripulite e l’intonaco restaurato, la linea tranviaria venne spostata aldilà delle Colonne ed il sagrato venne ripristinato in tutto il suo spazio; See the official sites of the basilica of San Lorenzo: http://www.sanlorenzomaggiore.com/index.php/2016/08/10/la-basilica-secolo-xix- xxi/, date: 15-04-2019; for more information about the research: C. Achille– R. Brumana and co., Integrated Methodologies of Representation and Analysis of a great monumental structure: San Lorenzo Maggiore in Milan (during CIPA 2003: XIXth International Symposium – Antalya, Turkey, Sept–Oct, Milano 2003; Laura Rampazzi–Bugini Roberto, St. Lorenzo Basilica in Milan: Integral approach to characterisation of historical mortars, in: DOAJ, Milan 2006. 143 Aristide Calderini, Gino Chierici, Carlo Cecchelli, La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1951, pp. 48–49. 144 Zuzana Frantova, Ravenna: Sedes Imperii. Artistic Trajectories in the Late Antique Mediterranean, Rome 2019, p. 144.

- 55 - concerning the question of the dating – is the situation of the chapel itself and its analysis. Is it actually possible to take Sant’Aquilinon’s chapel into consideration, when we are speaking about the dating of the entire construction? Firstly, we are now able to observe a highly probable limitation of the time period of the construction, which is related to the possible destruction of the Milanese amphitheatre. The only certain dating relating to the standing roman amphitheatre is 385. And second of all, there are three plausible hypotheses of the dating of the Laurentian complex: the first one is relating to Krautheimer’s statement, which corresponds with the period between 370–380 and implies to the pre-Ambrosial time,145 the second is support by many scholars, also today, and it is mainly based on the historical context and comparison. The dating is placed between 385/390–402,146 and the last one is based on archaeometry and scientific analysis of the archaeological area and considers the dating from the very end of the 4th century until around 410.147

145 See, for instance, Aristide Calderini, Gino Chierici, Carlo Cecchelli, La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1951, (it is necessary to say that Calderini originally favoured a date in the time of Stilicho (395-408), but he subsequently accepted a dating around 350); Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, pp. 61–82; Dale Kinney, Cappella Reginae: S. Aquilino in Milano, in: Studies in the History of Art, vol. XV, 1970–1971, pp. 13–35. 146 W. Eugene Kleinbauer, "Toward a dating of San Lorenzo in Milan. Masonry and Building Methods of Milanese Roman and Early Christian Architecture," in: Arte lombarda, no. 2, 1968, pp. 1-22; Suzanne Lewis, San Lorenzo Revisited: A Theodosian Palace Church in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 32 no. 3, (Oct. 1973), California, pp. 197–222; Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009; Carlo Bertelli, I mosaici di Sant’Aquilino, in: La Basilica di San Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1983, pp. 145–169; Per Jonas Nordhagen, The mosaics of the Cappella di S. Aquilino in Milan, in: Acta ad archaelogiam at atrium historiam pertinetia, vol. VIII, Roma 1982, pp. 77–94. 147 Markus Löx, Die Kiche San Lorenzo in Mailand: Eine Stiftung des Stilicho?, in: Bullettino dell’Istituto Archeologico Germanico Sezione Romana, vol. 114, 2008, pp. 407–439; Laura Fieni, La costruzione della Basilica di San Lorenzo a Milano, Milano 2005; Elisabetta Neri, Silvia L. Siena, Paola Greppi, Il problema della

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These hypotheses could have also led us towards the dating of the chapel of Sant’Aquilino however since it is impossible to establish a unique proposition of the dating of San Lorenzo, the exact is possible opposite: the structure of Sant’Aquilino may help us with the dating of the basilica of San Lorenzo. ___ Therefore, let me start with written sources about the chapel of Sant’Aquilino. The first relevant literature piece had been presented already in the 9th century – Vita of bishop Veranus of Cavaillon.148 Apparently, the text describes a journey of the Gallic bishop, who lived in the second half of the 6th century.149 This document about his journey to Rome contents also part, where he passed through Ravenna and Milano. The following text speaks about the moment when Veranus face the Church of San Lorenzo: Whence travelling through the separate cities ... [Veranus] arrived at Milan, where the feast of St. Lawrence the Martyr was being held. For there Galla Placidia, once the wife of Emperor Zeno, erected in honour of this same martyr a wonderful sanctuary, which in its beauty surpasses almost all other buildings in Italy.150 In this particular quotation, the entry of Veranus to Milan is described. It is crucial to remember a few information: there is a

cronologia del cantiere di San Lorenzo a Milano, vecchi e nuovi dati a confronto, Milano 1986. 148 Dale Kinney, The Evidence for the Dating of S. Lorenzo in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. XXXI, California 1972, p. 95; The sixth- century date for the Vita was proposed by Calderini. See Calderini-Chierici-Cecchelli, no. 8, p. 33. 149 Bibliografie o tomto textu 150 AA.SS. Octobris, vm (Paris and Rome, 1869), 468, 12: "Unde per singulas civitates evectionibus a sanctis episcopis cum charitate praestitis Mediolanum usque pervenit, ubi cum sancti martyris Lau rentii festivitate teneretur, inibi enim Galla Placidia uxor quondam Zenonis (imo Constantii) imperatoris in honore ejusdem martyris domum mirificam construxit, quae sua pulchritudine universa pene aedificia superat Italiae." The correct name of the Empress' husband, Constantius, is an insertion by a late editor of the text; See Dale Kinney, The Evidence for the Dating of S. Lorenzo in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. XXXI, California 1972, p. 96.

- 57 - mention of Galla Placidia’s relation with the church and that the sanctuary is dedicated to St. Lawrence. Unfortunately, there is no reference to the chapel of Saint’Aquilino itself. What is important to emphasize, is that already in the 6th century, the document presents us Galla Placidia as a founder of the entire church. Thanks to this source, it would be possible to assume that even the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino was erected by Galla Placidia. According to Veranus’s text, it would be possible to argue that the entire building might have been a piece of work created between 417–421 when Galla Placidia was a wife of Constantius III.151 The 11th century brought another evidence - Ad Heinri cum IV Imperatorem.152 Benzo Albensis, who wrote this piece, mentioned San Lorenzo’s church in a verse: When Galla, the noble Roman woman, founded a majestic building in Milano, where our clerics celebrate events.153 Once again, there is an emphasis on the noble Roman woman and the majestic building in the city that is the centre of a sacral life. However, this time, there is no mention about the whole name of the foundress, only her first name – Galla. On the contrary, what we can see in another text from the 11th century written by a Pope Alexander II. is that the bodies of Galla

151 For more about Galla Placidia: Hagith Sivan, Galla Placidia: The Last Roman Empress (Women in Antiquity), Oxford 2011. 152 Benzo Albensis, Ad Heinri cum IV Imperatorem, Lib. vi, 7, 1089, See Dale Kinney, The Evidence for the Dating of S. Lorenzo in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. XXXI, California 1972, p. 96 for the Dating of S. Lorenzo in Milan. 153 The original text reading: “Galla quidem, Romanorum nobilis patricia, Condidit Mediolani celsa hedificia, Ubi est nostri levitae celebris noticia” See Benzo Albensis, Ad Heinri cum IV Imperatorem, Lib. vi, 7, 1089.

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Placidia and her second husband Athaulf are located there [in the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino].154 Another considerable source is the 13th century text of Bonvensin della Riva (also Bonvicinus de Rippa), where is only a brief mention of San Lorenzo: “Saint Lawrence church which a certain queen called Galla let constructed column by column.”155 Even though, there is still kept the imperial character of the construction of San Lorenzo’s church – as it is in all the historical written sources – the founder is not very specified as in previous texts from the 9th or the 11th century and the foundation of the church is assigned to a certain queen named Galla.156 In the 13th century, a few words about the chapel were also written by Gotofredus Bussero, as was already recalled in the previous chapter. What is worthy of notice is Bussero’s no remark about Galla or Galla Placidia at all.157

A crucial statement has to be made before we continue – if we try to conclude the presented written sources – it is possible to say that there is no certain information to be claimed, except for the imperial character of the building, which is presented in all sources. However, the founder and the dating, which is in close connection with each other, is at least dual. That is mainly because of the omitting of the

154 Giovan Pietro Puricelli, Laurentii Littae Vita, p. 275, XIX; Laudadeo Testi, La forma primitiva delle gallerie lombarde e Cappella di S. Aquilino nel S. Lorenzo Maggiore di Milano, Messina 1902, p.22. 155 The original text reading: "beati Laurentii ecclesiam; quam regina quedam, nomine Galla Patritia, cum. xvi. exterioribus columnis dicitur construisse" See De Magnalibus Urbis Mediolani (ed. by Francesco Novati), in: Bullettino dell' Istituto Storico Italiano, no. XX 1898, pp. 89–90; Dale Kinney, The Evidence for the Dating of S. Lorenzo in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. XXXI, California 1972, p. 96. 156 Gillian Mackie, Early Christian Chapels in the West. Decoration, Function, and Patronage, Toronto 2003, pp. 156–163. 157 Laudadeo Testi, La forma primitiva delle gallerie lombarde e Cappella di S. Aquilino nel S. Lorenzo Maggiore di Milano, Messina 1902, p.22.

- 59 - second name of the certain Roman noblewoman or empress Galla, who is nevertheless called Galla Placidia in the text from the 9th century. In connection to this dual identity of the founder, three plausible options appear: firstly, it could have been because of the familiarity of authors with texts, today lost, that had been written before; secondly, due to their ignorance; or lastly, they might have also referred to Flavia Galla (370/75–394) – a wife of Theodosius I. (347–395) and a daughter of Valentinian I. (321–375) and his second wife Justina (340–388).158 This last solution would imply that dating would start to be more difficult. If Flavia Galla would be the patron, then the chapel must have been dated to the end of the 4th century and not the beginning of the 5th century.159 Nonetheless, it seems that Galvano Fiamma’s text somehow closed the debate in the 14th century, when he sticks to the tradition about the foundation of the chapel by Galla Placidia160 But on the other hand, if it would have been the canonical tradition, why would Benzo Albensis omit the surname and the pope Alexander II. would not even though, that both of them were from the 11th century? Furthermore, there is another point that has to be cited. Galvano Fiamma mentioned the figure of Galla precisely like this – “In process temporis quedam regina dicta galla Patritia que” – is it possible to believe that the collocation ‘galla Patritia’ means the wished Galla Placidia? In addition, it would be proclaimed that Galvano Fiamma started this belief of Galla Placidia’s provenience during the following centuries. However, it has to be remarked once again - Galvano had never written the whole name of Galla Placidia in this particular collocation.

When speaking of adopted terms, which had been started by G. Fiamma, we cannot leave out the phrase “Cappella Regina” – many times repeated – for example, by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1492. Visconti even

158 For more about the wife of Theodosius I the Great, see: Nigel Rodger, The History and Conquests of Ancient Rome, London 2005. 159 Ammianus Marcellinus, The Later Roman Empire: AD 354–378, Book XXXI (ed. by Andrew Wallace–Hadrill), London 1986. 160 Laudadeo Testi, La forma primitiva delle gallerie lombarde e Cappella di S. Aquilino nel S. Lorenzo Maggiore di Milano, Messina 1902, pp. 22–23.

- 60 - continued to call Sant’Aquilino’s chapel as “Cappella Regina” despite the fact that he did not specify why – the tradition remains but the meaning is lost.161

In the 16th century, the archbishop Federico Borromeo (1564– 1631) did not refer to the chapel’s interior only once. The crucial part fitting to the dating and foundation is: “The chapel of Sant Aquilino is situated on the southern side of the church of Saint Lawrence the Major and is known under the entitlement of Saint Genesius martyr. It is said by an antique tradition that it was built by Galla Placidia, daughter of Emperor Theodosius and wife of the king of the Goths Athaulf. It is an octagonal, furnished with notable ancient works, in fact with extremely elaborated mosaic.”162 He pointed out the foundation of Galla Placidia and emphasized the fact that it is kind of a tradition or even the legend In 1654, an archpriest of S. Lorenzo Giovan Pietro Puricelli had probably seen the chapel of St. Aquilino as the last one before the decoration was destroyed and wrote a short comment about the sacral space.163 After his text about Sant’Aquilino from the end of the 17th

161 Laudadeo Testi, La forma primitiva delle gallerie lombarde e Cappella di S. Aquilino nel S. Lorenzo Maggiore di Milano, Messina 1902, pp. 22–23. 162 The original text reading: “Oratorium seu sacellum sancti Aquilini quod a latere meridionali ecclesiae sancti Laurentii Maioris situm est sub titulo et invocatione sancti Genesii martyris a Galla Placidia Theodosii imperatoris filia et Astulphi Gothorum regis uxore ex vetustissima traditione constructum dictur. Est autem octangulum, fornicatum, insigni praestantique opere, nempe mosaico, eximie elaboratum.” See Ibidem. 163 Puricelli ottenne la prebenda teologale fra i canonici della collegiata cittadina di S. Tommaso in Terra Amara e simultaneamente, entro il 1621 (probabilmente nel 1619), fu nominato prefetto degli alunni del seminario di Milano, carica che dovette ricoprire fino al 1626. Di lì a poco, il 21 maggio 1629, fu promosso al ruolo di arciprete dell’ancora più prestigiosa collegiata di S. Lorenzo Maggiore. L’ ascesa nella dignità gerarchica non esaurì il suo campo di impegno sacerdotale. Specialmente nel decennio 1620-30 lo troviamo coinvolto nell’attività di predicatore svolta sia in città, sia in diversi luoghi del territorio diocesano, come Monza e la zona del lago Maggiore.

- 61 - century, a lot of researchers from the 18th century and 19th century tried to negotiate the possibility that Galla Placidia could have been buried there.164 __ The crucial point of presented sources is the omnipresent imperial character of the chapel, which is according to Markus Löx convincing, however, not the only plausible. Löx defends another hypothesis, where he tries to defend the foundation of the Basilica San Lorenzo by Flavius Stilicho (359–408), who was a high-ranking general, so-called magister militum, and was named by Theodosius I.165 Stilicho’s foundation of San Lorenzo would appreciably change the context, yet the dating would presumably take more or less the same time, between 396–402. That means that the imperial character proposed by many scholars would be destroyed. It is necessary to state that the imperial character of the chapel of Sant’Aquilino is not only a decision of scholars. The royal connotation is mentioned in all written sources from the 6th until the 19th century. Could we accept the imperial character of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel as a fact? . . The historical context of the construction Provided that we are acquainted with all matters of the edifice, we can move on to a brief historical insight that should also particularize a period of the construction and help us to support, more or less, the only hypothesis.

See Massimiliano David, De aurea ecclesia Genesii, in: Milano ritrovata: La via sacra da San Lorenzo al duomo (ed. by Maria Luisa Gatti Perer), Milano 1991, p. 50. 164 Such as Antonio Pucinelli (19th century), who tried to suggest the dating of foundation during the Constantinian period – that would drastically change the dating to the years between 306 and 337. For more: Suzanne Lewis, San Lorenzo Revisited: A Theodosian Palace Church in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 32, no. 3 (Oct. 1973), California, pp. 197–222. 165 For more about Flavius Stilicho: Ian Hughes, Stilicho: The Vandal Who Saved Rome, Oxford 2016.

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In the beginning, it is necessary to mention the unbroken presence of emperors from Constans to Theodosius I., that means between 340 and 402, and that is obviously in connection with the principal seat of the imperial power in the western half of the Orbis Romanus.166 Hence, it is expectable to proclaim, with certainty, that the city of Milan was influential and powerful particularly in these times.167 The importance of Milan increased dramatically during the 3rd century. In 291, Milan already hosted an imperial palace and also Maximian's mausoleum was built in this period. The 3rd century is, according to Filippo Carlà, the beginning of a rivalry between Milan and Rome, which is perhaps also contributing point.168 With the dynasty of Valentinian, the role of Milan as capital is unquestionable. Not only Valentinian I held his trials here, but even Gratian and Valentinian II spent most of their time in Milan and took over the process of monumentalizing the city.169 The project of monumentalizing of Milan was not a case only for emperors but also for a bishop, particularly Ambrose.170 The role of Milan as the capital required in the second half of the 4th century a glorification of its church and of its traditions – in particular, the role of Milan as the "Church capital" of the Empire, in contrast with Rome's paganism – that was firmly stressed by Ambrose.171 Traditions were presented as a coherent part of Ambrose’s bigger project – to persuade the emperors to be buried in Milan. He tried it

166 Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987, p. 71. 167 See Mauro Pavesi, Storie segrete della storia di Milano, Milano 2017, Milano allo specchio. Da Constantino al Barbarossa, l'autopercezione di una capitale (ed. by Ivan Foletti, Irene Quadri and Marco Rossi), Roma 2016. 168 Filippo Carlà, Milan, Ravenna, Rome: Some Reflections on the Cult of the Saints and on Civic Politics in Late Antique Italy, in: Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa, no. 2, 2010, p. 199. 169 Ibidem. 170 For more see: Ivan Foletti, Oggetti, reliquie, migranti. La basilica ambrosiana e il culto dei suoi santi (386-972), Rome 2018. 171 See Philip Schaff, Ambrose: Selected Works and Letters, Michigan 2004; Filippo Carlà, Milan, Ravenna, Rome: Some Reflections on the Cult of the Saints and on Civic Politics in Late Antique Italy, in: Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa, no. 2, 2010, p. 199.

- 63 - with Gratian in 384, Valentinian II in 392 and then with Theodosius I in 395. However, Ambrose succeeded only with Valentinian II.172 At the time, when Milan was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire and Saint Ambrose was a bishop of the city (374–397) – one of the main conflicts was the religious one concerning mainstream Catholicism: Nicene, which emphasized the Holy Trinity, and Arianism, which believed that Jesus was inferior to God.173 In 385–386, the competition of doctrines occurred, Milan was controlled by the Roman Emperor Valentinian II. Although he held the title of an emperor and ruled from the capital city of Milan, the Roman Empire was in the process of fragmentation. For instance, Valentinian II had little control over his generals in the East and West.174

What is more, in this time, the emperor was only fourteen years old and actually, the one, who ruled, was his mother Justina, an Arian. The two of them invited Auxentius (355–374), an Arian bishop, to reside in Milan and begin winning converts, however, he could have not baptized his converts without a basilica for the Arian church.175 At this time, Milan had three basilicas, known as the New Basilica, the Old Basilica, and the so-called Portiana.176

172 Filippo Carlà, Milan, Ravenna, Rome: Some Reflections on the Cult of the Saints and on Civic Politics in Late Antique Italy, in: Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa, no. 2, 2010, p. 199; Ambrose of Milan, Politcal Letters and Speeches (J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz, transl.), Liverpool 2005, pp. 358–364. 173 See Daniel H. Williams, Ambrose of Milan and the End of the Arian-Nicene Conflicts. Oxford 1995, pp. 125–126; Markus Löx, Monumenta Sanctorum. Rom und Mailand als Zentren des frühen Christentums: Märtyrerkult und Kirchenbau unter den Bishöfen Damasus und Ambrosius, p. 34; Ivan Foletti, Oggetti, reliquie, migranti. La basilica ambrosiana e il culto dei suoi santi (386-972), Rome 2018. 174 See Ammianus Marcellinus, The Later Roman Empire: AD 354–378 Book XXXI, Middlesex/ New York 1986 pp. 408–409; Markus Löx, Monumenta Sanctorum. Rom und Mailand als Zentren des frühen Christentums: Märtyrerkult und Kirchenbau unter den Bishöfen Damasus und Ambrosius, Wiesbaden 2013, p. 39. 175 Timothy D. Barnes, Valentinianm Auxentius and Ambrose, in: Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, vol. 51 no. 2, (2nd Qtr., 2002), pp. 227–237. 176 Carlo Torre, Il ritratto di Milano: diuiso in tre libri, 1674, pp. 83–158.

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In early 385, Ambrose, the Catholic bishop of Milan, was called to the imperial court by Valentinian II and Justina and told to cede one of the basilicas to Auxentius and thus, also to Arian confession.177 Later, Ambrose inclined to obey the demand. However, his courage was restored by the arrival of a mob of parishioners, who had heard of the meeting and sought to preserve all three basilicas for Catholic worship.178 The following year 386, Justina and Valentinian II passed a law explicitly granting freedom of worship to Arians and permitting capital punishment for anyone who criticized Arianism.179 Afterwards, the emperor renewed his request that the Portiana has to be given to the Arians. However, Ambrose refused to agree on it and he is ordered to leave Milan – he refused. Then, Auxentius invited Ambrose to debate the theological issues nevertheless, nothing is solved and the whole argument leads to the military response. 180 Soon after this, Valentinian II and his mother made a final attempt to secure the Portiana for Auxentius and the Arians. Imperial soldiers once again surrounded the Portiana, but this time, Ambrose was inside. Ambrose and his congregation remained in the basilica for several days and nights, during which he delivered a polemical sermon against Auxentius. After several days, the royal court backed down for the last time. Reasons are not certain, some scholars proposed that Magnus Maximus, a commander of the Catholic army and de facto a

177 See Timothy D. Barnes, Valentinianm Auxentius and Ambrose, in: Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, vol. 51 no. 2, (2nd Qtr., 2002), pp. 227–237; Ambrose of Milan, Political Letters and Speeches (transl. J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz), Liverpool 2005; Philip Schaff, Ambrose: Selected Works and Letters, Michigan 2004. 178 Ibidem, pp. 227–237; Markus Löx, Monumenta Sanctorum. Rom und Mailand als Zentren des frühen Christentums: Märtyrerkult und Kirchenbau unter den Bishöfen Damasus und Ambrosius, Wiesbaden 2013, pp. 32–37. 179 See Ambrose of Milan, Political Letters and Speeches (transl. J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz), Liverpool 2005; Ammianus Marcellinus, The Later Roman Empire: AD 354–378, Book XXXI (ed. by Andrew Wallace–Hadrill), London 1986. 180 Ibidem.

- 65 - ruler of the Western Empire, warned the weaker Valentinian II.181 Others say that Ambrose’s will and the popular support for maintaining the basilicas in Catholic control were simply too great for Valentinian and Justina to overcome.182 On June 17, 396, the relics of Gervasius and Portasius, the patron saint of the city of Milan had been found by workers under Ambrose’s direction. Ambrose’s popularity gained on strength and his position was fully recovered.183 The last emperor, who ruled for some time the entire Roman Empire was Theodosius I the Great (392–395).184 Theodosius had two wives, however, the important one was the second, who was a daughter of Justina, a wife of Valentinian I and also a sister of Valentinian II, who was Theodosius’s co-emperor in the West (379–392).185 According to sources Valentinian II and Theodosius I were loyal in their relationship and supported each other, which supports also Theodosius’s help during the religious conflicts in Milan.186 It is crucial to present Theodosius I like the emperor, who tried to maintain the greatness of the Empire with alliances, but of course, he could not have avoided wars.187 Theodosius was not active only in Milan and Constantinople but, for example, also in Thessaloniki, where, he converted maybe The

181 Ambrose of Milan, Political Letters and Speeches (J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz transl.), Liverpool 2005, pp. 349–352. 182 Ibidem, pp. 124–136. 183 See Ambrose of Milan, Political Letters and Speeches (transl. J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz), Liverpool 2005, pp. 349–352, pp. 204–215; Ivan Foletti, Oggetti, reliquie, migranti. La basilica ambrosiana e il culto dei suoi santi (386- 972), Rome 2018.. 184 See Thomas Hodgkin, The Dynasty of Theodosius, or, Eighty years‘ struggle with the barbarians, Oxford 1990 185 Ammianus Marcellinus, The Later Roman Empire: AD 354–378, Book XXXI (ed. by Andrew Wallace–Hadrill), London 1986, pp. 409–415. 186 Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire, New York 1907., p. 976–980. 187 J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, from the death of Theodosius I. to the death of Justinian, vol. 1, New York 1958, pp. 101–115; Markus Löx, Monumenta Sanctorum. Rom und Mailand als Zentren des frühen Christentums: Märtyrerkult und Kirchenbau unter den Bishöfen Damasus und Ambrosius, Wiesbaden 2013, pp. 40–42.

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Rotunda to the Christian religion in 395.188 He considered the original circumstances of the erection, The Rotunda was constructed as a Pagan temple before the Christianization of the Roman Empire.189 Although Theodosius I made Hagios Georgios a Christian place, the act can also be considered as proof of Theodosius’ importance and influence all over the Empire.190

Convenient is also to draw our attention to the 5th century Milan, which should help us to define the time period of the plausible construction, mainly of the chapel of Sant’Aquilino. In 452, the city of Milan was devastated by Huns. Afterwards, in 539 the city of Milan was destroyed again, for this time by the Goths.191 Which implies that from the half of the 5th century, and on is Milan the place of riots and invasions. What is more, there is not enough wealth accessible to a city such as Milan.192 The frequently recalled date is the year 402 when the post of the capital city was handed over to Ravenna – the importance of the emperor’s seat was relocated– including also the wealth of the imperial court.193

188 For more: Slobodan Ćurčić, Christianization of Thessalonikē. The making of Chrstian “urban iconography,” in: From Roman to Early Christuan Thessalonikē (ed. by Laura Nasrallah, Charalambos Bakirtzis, and Steven J. Friesen), Cambridge 2010, pp. 213–244; Bente Kiilerich – Hjalmar Torp, The Rotunda in Thessaloniki and its mosaics, Athens 2017. 189 See Glanville Downey, Antioch in the Age of Theodosius the Great, Norman 1962; Thomas Hodgkin, The Dynasty of Theodosius, or, Eighty years‘ struggle with the barbarians, Oxford 1990. 190 See Thomas Hodgkin, The Dynasty of Theodosius, or, Eighty years‘ struggle with the barbarians, Oxford 1990; Averil Cameron, Thoughts on the Introduction to The Conflict between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century, in: Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire: The Breaking of a Dialogue IVth-VIth Century AD (ed. by Peter Brown and Rita Lizzi Testa), Münster 2011. 191 See Amédée Thierry, Histoire d’Attila et de ses successeur (2/2) jusqu’ à l'établissement des Hongrois en Europe, Paris 1856; Jordanes, The Origin and Deeds of the Goths (ed. by Charles C. Mierow), Princeton 1908. 192 Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987, pp. 69–70. 193 See Zuzana Frantová, Ravenna: Sedes Imperii. Artistic Trajectories in the Late Antique Mediterranean, Rome 2019; Carlo Torre–Federico Agnelli ac., Il ritratto di

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In this sense, I would suggest the latest possible dating – no later than 402, which means perhaps, even the last decades of the 4th century.194 In addition, it has to be said that concerning the end of the 4th century as a period, in which Sant’Aquilino’s chapel was erected is not a new proposition. Archaeological excavations done in 2000 proved that the entire structure of San Lorenzo is, in the end, younger than 370s, and is rather in accordance with the reign of Theodosius I than of Gratian.195 If we stick to this factual information, we can claim that the chapel of Sant’Aquilino was erected in the time of Theodosius I, particularly not before the year 385 and not after 402. . . . The conclusion: ante or post 402 Let me sum up the plausible periods of the construction of the chapel of Sant’Aquilino, which were purposed thanks to the consideration of historical written sources about the entire Laurentian

Milano: diviso in tre libri, Milano 1674, pp. 83–158; Ella Noyes, The Story of Milan, London 1908, pp. 1–26. 194 Carlo Bertelli, I mosaici di Sant’Aquilino, in: La Basilica di San Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1983, pp. 145–169; Suzanne Lewis, San Lorenzo Revisited: A Theodosian Palace Church in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 32 no. 3, (Oct. 1973), California, pp. 197–222; Ivan Foletti, Il trionfo della figura: Sant’Aquilino, San Vittore in Ciel d’oro a Milano e la retorica del V secolo, in: Medioevo, natura e figura, Milano 2015, pp. 129–137; Svetlana P. Zaigrajkina, Mozaika “Christos s apostolami“ v kapelle Sankt Akvilino v Milane, in: Trudy Gosudarstvennogo Ermitaža, Sankt-Peterburg 2015, pp. 7–13; Per Jonas Nordhagen, The mosaics of the Cappella di S. Aquilino in Milan, in: Acta ad archaelogiam at atrium historiam pertinetia, vol. VIII, Roma 1982, pp. 77–94. 195 In occasione del Giubileo del 2000 avvennero importanti lavori: le facciate esterne della Basilica vennero ripulite e l’intonaco restaurato, la linea tranviaria venne spostata aldilà delle Colonne ed il sagrato venne ripristinato in tutto il suo spazio; See the official sites of the basilica of San Lorenzo: http://www.sanlorenzomaggiore.com/index.php/2016/08/10/la-basilica-secolo-xix- xxi/, date: 15-04-2019; for more information about the research: C. Achille– R. Brumana and co., Integrated Methodologies of Representation and Analysis of a great monumental structure: San Lorenzo Maggiore in Milan (during CIPA 2003: XIXth International Symposium – Antalya, Turkey, Sept–Oct, Milano 2003; Laura Rampazzi–Bugini Roberto, St. Lorenzo Basilica in Milan: Integral approach to characterisation of historical mortars, in: DOAJ, Milan 2006.

- 68 - complex, archaeological excavations done mainly by Laura Fieni, and hypotheses, which have been suggested by scholars until now. Remaining written sources are referring to two highly probable periods of the dating, which has to be related to a name of a certain empress Galla: firstly, the time of Galla Placidia and her first husband Athaulf – 410–413, or her life with her second husband Constantius III (370–421) in Rome – 417–421; and secondly, a time related to the life of Flavia Galla, a wife of Theodosius I and a sister of Valentinian II, in the same time also a daughter of Justina and Valentinian I – around 390s. Despite the fact that written sources presented us the probable time of the construction, we have to take into consideration also the archaeological investigation, which agrees rather on the time interval from 390/396 until 410, or even 420. However, I would like to clarify, why is the dating of the chapel of Sant’Aquilino rather at the end of the 4th century than the beginning of the 5th.

402 AD, the year of the relocation of the capital city from Milan to Ravenna is still a subject of great discussion among scholars because the archaeological excavation supports the hypotheses of Markus Löx and Elisabetta Neri, which speak for the construction of the Laurentian complex after 402. On the one hand, there is Neri’s hypothesis about the time of the construction corresponding to the dating between 390–410, which implies the reign of Honorius I. (384–423), as she purposed.196 And on the other, Löx’s statement connected with a figure of Theodosius’s general Stilicho, who should have been the founder of the entire Laurentian complex according to Löx.197 Even if either of

196 Elisabetta Neri, Silvia L. Siena, Paola Greppi, Il problema della cronologia del cantiere di San Lorenzo a Milano, vecchi e nuovi dati a confronto, Milano 1986; Elisabetta Neri, "Desuper tegens universa musivum" le décor des coupoles du complexe de Saint-Laurent à Milan, in: Entre terre et ciel. Les édifices à coupole at elur décor entre l’Antiquité tardive et le haut Moyen Âge (ed. Chiara Croci and Vladimir Ivanovici), Lausane 2018, pp. 43–64. 197 Markus Löx, Die Kiche San Lorenzo in Mailand: Eine Stiftung des Stilicho?, in: Bullettino dell’Istituto Archeologico Germanico Sezione Romana, vol. 114, 2008, pp. 407–439; Markus Löx, Monumenta Sanctorum. Rom und Mailand als Zentren

- 69 - suggested hypotheses is plausible – in a sense of archaeological excavations – I would suggest that it is not in accordance with historical circumstances. Therefore, it needs to be explained, why their hypotheses may not have been right: firstly, it is difficult to share Neri’s opinion perhaps, because of the historical figure of Honorius and due to a turbulent period of the Roman Empire, which follows him. The same issue is, in my view, presented when we are speaking about the hypothesis of Markus Löx.

In 401, Visigoths entered Italy and began to besiege cities – firstly the North of Italy and then they continued to the South.198 Their “invasion” culminated with the third siege of Rome in 410.199 Encroachments of Visigoths to a normal life of the Empire had not ended with the third incident in Rome, they continued to threaten Honorius with another invasion, for this time, of Sicily and Africa.200 Honorius’s concern was not only the beauty of his empire but mainly its unity and also its continuation in his favour.201 What is more, Alaric is the one who probably caused a relocation of the imperial residence from

des frühen Christentums: Märtyrerkult und Kirchenbau unter den Bishöfen Damasus und Ambrosius, Wiesbaden 2013. 198 Herwig Wolfram, History of the Goths, Berkley 1988, p. 151; for more information see: Perry Glasser, Virtual View: Visigoths inside the Gates, in: American Review, vol. 282 no. ¾, (May, 1997), pp. 76–78, 80; William N. Byless, The Visigothic Invasion of Italy in 401, in: The Classical Journal, vol. 72 no. 1 (Oct., 1976), pp. 65–67; Michael Kulikowski, Rome's Gothic Wars: From the Third Century to Alaric, Cambridge 2006. 199 Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians, Oxford 2006, p. 227. 200 Sam Moorhead–David Stuttard, AD410: The Year that Shook Rome, London 2010, p. 134. 201 For more information and similar examples see: Thomas S. Burns, Barbarians Within the Gates of Rome: A Study of Roman Military Policy and the Barbarians, Bloomington 1994; Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians, Oxford 2006; Thomas S. Burns, Theories and Facts: The Early Gothic Migrations, in: History in Africa, vol. 9, 1982, pp. 1–20.

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Milan to Ravenna.202 Therefore, I believe that the construction of such a luxurious building would be really difficult to imagine in such a complicated political situation, especially in a city, which was no longer be the capital. However, certain is, at least in my view, that the basilica of San Lorenzo was intended to be a monumental expression of the role of Milan as a Christian capital, and of the city as a centre of the Empire and its faith.203

What is the main reason, why we cannot assume, the chapel of Sant’Aquilino could have been a commission of Honorius? As Zuzana Frantová stated, Honorius had a closer relationship to Rome than to Milan, with certainty between the years 402–408. This statement supports also Honorius’s decision to construct a royal dynastical mausoleum in Rome instead of Ravenna, Milan or Constantinople204 The mausoleum was built between 400– 408. In fact, many members of the Roman Christian elite, as well as members of the Roman aristocracy, had been buried at the Vatican in the mid- and late 4th century.205 Perhaps Honorius’s mausoleum can also be understood as an attempt to build an imaginary bridge between the emperor and the powerful Christian senatorial aristocracy, as was purposed by Maeghan McEvoy.206 Furthermore, Honorius’s brother Arcadius, an emperor of the Eastern Empire, added his personal mausoleum to the Church of the Holy

202 See Erik Durschmied, From Armageddon to the Fall of Rome, London 2002 p. 401; Marcel Brion, Alaric, the Goth, New York 1930; Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians, Oxford 2006, p.151. 203 Filippo Carlà, Milan, Ravenna, Rome: Some Reflections on the Cult of the Saints and on Civic Politics in Late Antique Italy, in: Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa, n. 2, 2010, p. 210. 204 Zuzana Frantová, Ravenna: Sedes Imperii. Artistic Trajectories in the Late Antique Mediterranean, Rome 2019, p. 145 205 For more see: Christopher Smith, A hundred years of Roman history: historiography and intellectual culture, London 2012. 206 Maeghan McEvoy, The Mausoleum of Honorius: late Roman imperial Christianity and the city of Rome in the fifth century, in: Old Saint Peter's, Rome (ed. by Rosamond McKitterick and John Osbourneed), Cambridge 2013, p. 121.

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Apostles in Constantinople in 404.207 These two projects may be a sign of a certain competition between emperors and, for us, also a sign of competition between cities. In accordance with that, it is possible to perceive Rome and Constantinople as two cities which play the most important role at the beginning of the 5th century. Furthermore, relations between the eastern and western parts of the Roman Empire were not stable at this time and it is, therefore, possible that the western emperor annexed his dynastic mausoleum to the Church of Sant Peter to confirm not the equality, but even the supremacy of Rome.208 He did not demonstrate only the primacy of the western part in the context of the entire empire but he also showed that Rome is the most important city within the Western Empire. If Honorius started to build the dynastical mausoleum in Rome, why would he had also commissioned one in Milan? What is more, if he wanted to present Rome as the significant city, why would he have paid attention to a city such as Milan, which was not the capital or even the city of his focus? As Filippo Carlà pointed out, already in 404, Rome was more important than Milan and even Honorius spent the whole year in Rome, as well as in 407 and the beginning of 408.209 Carlà also argued that we cannot agree with Neri’s suggestion that Ravenna was chosen as an “anti-Milan” already in the very end of the 4th century, however, it is obvious that the choice of Ravenna for the capital city had deep consequences for Milan and its importance.210 What is more, in the years 402-408, the capital appears to be once again in Rome. In the first years of the 5th century, Milan has been abandoned once again, and Rome started recovering its political prestige.211 From my perspective, there is rather a possibility of

207 For more information see: Richard Krautheimer, A note on Justinian’s church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, Città del Vaticano 1900. 208 Filippo Carlà, Milan, Ravenna, Rome: Some Reflections on the Cult of the Saints and on Civic Politics in Late Antique Italy, in: Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa, no. 2, 2010, p. 210. 209 Ibidem, pp. 211, 221–222. 210 Ibidem, p. 219 211 Ibidem, p. 221

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Honorius’s tendency to made a new capital city form Ravenna, even though that it was perhaps an act done in a sense of make a virtue of necessity. Filippo Carlà claimed that it might be perceived as an attempt of Honorius to once again relocate to Milan in 408, but he was then forced to abandon it by Alaric’s movements, as in 402.212 In addition, we only know about one church built during the reign of Honorius in Ravenna. It was a church dedicated to St. Lawrence, speaking of the dedication of the church, it seems unlikely to be only a coincidence, to have two churches dedicated to the same martyr in such a short time without any relation.213 Although, we know that Saint Lawrence was a popular saint and sacral buildings dedicated to him were all over the Empire.214 His cult had been firmly entrenched not only in Rome since the time of Constantine, who founded the basilica dedicated to Lawrence near the martyr’s tomb and was especially venerated by members of the Theodosian dynasty.215 A huge campaign around his relics was run also by the Milanese bishop Ambrose in the second half of the 4th century and probably also in the first half of the 5th century in Ravenna– today, possible to see in the so-called Mausoleum of Galla

212 Filippo Carlà, Milan, Ravenna, Rome: Some Reflections on the Cult of the Saints and on Civic Politics in Late Antique Italy, in: Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa, n. 2, 2010, p. 222. 213 Ibidem, p. 222. 214 Simonetta Serra, Le fonti e l’archeologia. Alle origini del culto di san Lorenzo a Roma, in: Studia Ambrosiana 8, 2015, pp. 29–53; Paolo Giovanni Antonio Tomea, Il culto e la memoria di Lorenzo a Milan (sec. V–XIII), in: Il culto di san Lorenzo tra Roma e Milano. Dalle origini al Medioevo, Milano 2015, p. 59; Manuela Gianandrea, The “rediscovery” of Rome in imperial patronage of the arts in the fifth century, in: The fifth century in Rome (Ivan Foletti – Manuela Gianandrea ed.), Roma 2015. 215 Zuzana Frantová, Ravenna: Sedes Imperii. Artistic Trajectories in the Late Antique Mediterranean, Rome 2019, p. 151, Simonetta Serra, Le fonti e l’archeologia. Alle origini del culto di san Lorenzo a Roma, in: Studia Ambrosiana 8, 2015, pp. 40-49; Paolo Giovanni Antonio Tomea, Il culto e la memoria di Lorenzo a Milan (sec. V–XIII), in: Il culto di san Lorenzo tra Roma e Milano. Dalle origini al Medioevo, Milano 2015, p. 59.

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Placidia – which is maybe the link between two cities and the fact of a relocation of the capital from Milan to Ravenna.216

All these arguments may be easily used even in the case of Stilicho’s foundation of the Laurentian complex – of course – if we consider all these circumstances and add some others. Stilicho and Honorius were obligated to each other. In the beginning, Stilicho holds an important position of a general in the army of Theodosius I. After the emperor’s death in 395, he bolstered up his status and became a regent of the young ten-year-old Honorius.217 Nevertheless, as quickly as Stilicho came to power, he lost it. Stilicho’s fall began in the year 407, due to his risky decisions. Although he married both of his daughters to Honorius, he was not able to keep his position in the royal court and therefore, was executed in 408.218 However, it has to be said that Honorius’s commission of the dynastical mausoleum is also related to the figure of Stilicho. Honorius built it not only for himself but for the entire dynasty – that means also his wife, Empress Maria, who was also the daughter of Stilicho and his wife Serena.219

216 Alžběta Filipová, Milan sans frontières. Les reliques au service de la diffusion de l'art et de l'architecture milanais pendant l'antiquité tardive (the doctoral thesis), Masarykova Universita/ Université de Lausanne 2017; Zuzana Frantová, Ravenna: Sedes Imperii. Artistic Trajectories in the Late Antique Mediterranean, Rome 2019. 217 See Markus Löx, Die Kiche San Lorenzo in Mailand: Eine Stiftung des Stilicho?, in: Bullettino dell’Istituto Archeologico Germanico Sezione Romana, vol. 114, 2008, pp. 407–439; Markus Löx, Monumenta Sanctorum. Rom und Mailand als Zentren des frühen Christentums: Märtyrerkult und Kirchenbau unter den Bishöfen Damasus und Ambrosius, Wiesbaden 2013; Isabella Baldini Lippolis – Salvatore Cocentino – Anna Colangelo et. al., Potere e politica nell’età della famiglia Teodosiana (395–455) i linguaggio dell’impero, le identità dei barbari, in: Contributi regionali (Isabella Baldini, et. al. ed.), Edipuglia 2013. 218 Ibidem 219 Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, pp. 173-174; Zuzana Frantová, Ravenna: Sedes Imperii. Artistic Trajectories in the Late Antique Mediterranean, Rome 2019, p. 145 219 Maeghan McEvoy, The Mausoleum of Honorius: late Roman imperial Christianity and the city of Rome in the fifth century, in: Old Saint Peter's, Rome (ed. by Rosamond McKitterick and John Osbourneed), Cambridge 2013, p. 121.

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C . The possible founder Thanks to these possible periods of time we can define the chapel’s erection and even the particular founder of Sant’Aquilino. If we consider carefully facts that had been proposed above, we should be capable to reveal the most convincing fondatore. That is why, I believe, it is necessary to recall the dating, which I defend the most and then only briefly consider others. Thus, the time between the year 385 and 402 – in my opinion – is the most plausible option to choose. The years, when the Roman Empire is ruled by the emperor Theodosius I. Firstly, it is crucial to lay all the arguments about the imperial commission of the chapel on the table, and afterwards try to prove Theodosius’s foundation of the chapel of Sant’Aquilino with all arguments, which are possible to present. The Chapel of Sant’Aquilino was not yet obviously planned between the year 375 and 376 because the body of Valentinian I was brought to Constantinople to be buried in the mausoleum attached to the Holy Apostles. Which implies that Sant’Aquilino would have been erected not before the year 376. That would indicate towards Gratian’s foundation of the whole structure, include Sant’Aquilino possibly intended as the mausoleum of the Western dynasty. However, nor Gratian or even his half-brother Valentinian II have been buried in Sant’Aquilino. What is more, the body of the first wife of Gratian, Flavia Maxima Constantia was sent to Constantinople.220 Hence, it is still possible that the body of Justina, a mother of Valentinian II was buried in Milan, possible in Sant’Aquilino. That would even validate the name of the chapel suggested by Galvano Fiamma – “Cappella Reginae.”221

220 See Mark J. Johnson, On the Burial Places of the Valentinian Dynasty, in: Historia, Band XL/4, Stuttgart 1991, pp. 501–506; Mark J. Johnson, Toward a History of Theodoric’s Building Program, in: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, vol. 42, Wahington 1988, pp. 73–96. 221 Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987, p. 91.

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In 387, the empress reconciled to Ambrose and probably even to orthodoxy and that would make her burial in the chapel possible.222 Could have she converted to the orthodoxy only because of a chance to be buried in a mausoleum, which was initially meant to be for her and her family?

Now, let me proceed to the possible foundation of the Milanese structure by Theodosius I the Great. Suzanne Lewis stated, that the entire Basilica of San Lorenzo was originally constructed as a building with four towers at the corners and with a double-shelled dome.223 We can see this also on an example of the Cathedral in Trier, which was taken out by Constantin the Great and finished during the reign of Gratian.224 The “palace church” in Trier is not similar only in the sense of a function, because San Lorenzo – as is believed by many scholars – was “palace church” as well.225 However, if we look at the original models of churches, there are also a few comparable details in the architectural structure, such as corner towers and the double-shelled tent central dome.226 Other well-known imperial buildings, which support the royal commission of Sant’Aquilino are the structures in Rome, Jerusalem or Antioch – Santa Constanza, Apostolion or Domus Aurea.227

222 Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987, p. 91. 223 Suzanne Lewis, San Lorenzo Revisited: A Theodosian Palace Church in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 32 no. 3, California (Oct. 1973), p. 208. 224 For more information about the Cathedral in Trier see: Janice E. James, Early Christian cathedral architecture in Trier, Bloomington 1993; Franz Ronig–Rita Heyen, Trier cathedral, Trier 2009. 225 Marko Kiessel, Die Architektur des spätantiken Palastareals nordöstlich und östlich der spätantiken Aula in Trier, in: Studien zu Spätantike und Frühmittelalter, Hamburg 2011, pp. 77–106; Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987 226 W. Eugene Kleinbauer, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Rome: The Patronage of Emperor Constantius II and Architectural Invention, in: Gesta, vol. 45, no. 2, Chicago 2006, pp.125-145. 227 Ibidem.

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The city of Milan was enlarged towards the northeast and provided with new walls and other important places – from the large bath to the circus.228 The street, which led to Rome was flanked by collonaded porticoes and certainly might have been created on the Greek model – Thessaloniki, and also on other imperial capitals in the East. That means that colonnades beginning at a tetrapylon did recall, for example, the Arch of Galerius at Thessaloniki or the Janus Quadrifrons in Rome.229 Krautheimer’s observations point towards Theodosius mainly because of his noticeable following of Constantin the Great and the plausible employment of the Rotunda’s model from Thessaloniki, where Theodosius resided between the years 379 and 380.230 His baptism took a place only in the year 380 and afterwards, in 395, he converted the Rotunda to the orthodoxy.231 Theodosius was also solving problems with Goths till the year 382 even though, he entered the city of Milan only after 387, before he was mainly in Constantinople, from 380 to 387.232 That means, Theodosius I. knew both – Thessaloniki

228 Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987, p. 70. 229 Ibidem. 230 See Ambrose of Milan, Political Letters and Speeches (J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz, transl.), Liverpool 2005, pp. 262–263; Stephen Williams – Gerard Friell, Theodosius: The Empire at Bay, London 1998, pp. 65–78; Stephen Mitchell, A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284–64, Oxford 2014, pp. 127–170. 231 See Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987; Suzanne Lewis, San Lorenzo Revisited: A Theodosian Palace Church in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 32 no. 3 (Oct. 1973), California, pp. 197–222; J. B. Ward-Perkins, Imperial Mausolea and Their Possible Influence on Early Christian Central-Plan Buildings, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, California 1966, pp. 297–299. 232 See Glanville Downey, Antioch in the Age of Theodosius the Great, Norman 1962; Thomas Hodgkin, The Dynasty of Theodosius, or, Eighty years‘ struggle with the barbarians, Oxford 1990; Peter Brown and Rita Lizzi Testa, Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire: The Breaking of a Dialogue (IVth-VIth Century A.D.), Münster 2011.

- 77 - and also Constantinople. His sojourn in Milan lasted until the spring of 391.233 What is more, if we accept all historical sources – particularly about the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino from the 9th century to the 16th century – we should mention Galla Placidia, the so-called founder of the Laurentian complex and Sant’Aquilino’s chapel as well. It is necessary to tell that the entire name of Galla has never been mentioned until the end of the 17th century, except Vita of a bishop Veranus from the 9th century and one of the 11th century texts. More importantly, there is no certain founder, which implies that we can also consider a different one.234 A lot of sources wrote only about a visit of Empress Galla and not her foundation. Theodosius had, as I already told, a second wife with a name Flavia Galla, who was also a daughter of Justina, the wife of Valentinian I. She was also a sister of Valentinian II, who was Theodosius’s co-emperor in the West.235 According to sources Valentinian II and Theodosius I were loyal in their relationship and supported each other.236 So that could point to Valentinian’s possible commission as well if he was not that young. Is it likely that chroniclers might have been writing about Flavia Galla in the end? Could have been the first impulse to build Sant’Aquilino’s chapel from the empress, and then the realization was left on the emperor himself?

In contrary, there are hypotheses proclaiming different possibilities – such as already mentioned Markus Löx and Stilicho’s

233 Stephen Williams – Gerard Friell, Theodosius: The Empire at Bay, London 1998, pp. 65–78; Stephen Mitchell, A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284–64, Oxford 2014, pp. 127–170. 234 See Benzo Albensis, Ad Heinri cum IV Imperatorem, Lib. vi, 7, 1089; De Magnalibus Urbis Mediolani (ed. by Francesco Novati), in: Bullettino dell' Istituto Storico Italiano, vol. XX 1898, pp. 89–90 and so on. 235 Ammianus Marcellinus, The Later Roman Empire: AD 354–378, Book XXXI (ed. by Andrew Wallace–Hadrill), London 1986, pp. 409–415. 236 Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire, New York 1907, p. 976–980; Stephen Mitchell, A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284–64, Oxford 2014.

- 78 - foundation or Elisabetta Neri with her proposition of the foundation by Honorius. It is essential to pronounce that all theories, which have been presented until now are doubtful. To disprove Löx’s assertion, I would add that Stilicho himself had to move to Ravenna because of his political disputes in Milan, which put Stilicho and his life in jeopardy.237 When Stilicho relocated to Ravenna, he had another chance to create milieu, which would suit his intention. I would, therefore, suggest that -according to all these data – it is plausible to claim that the chapel of Sant’Aquilino may have been constructed in the time of Theodosius I, particularly not before the year 385 and not after 395. I believe his wife Galla was, somehow linked with the project. It seems to me plausible she has maybe been even the first person buried in Sant’Aquilino.

237 Zuzana Frantová, Ravenna: Sedes Imperii. Artistic Trajectories in the Late Antique Mediterranean, Rome 2019, p. 140; Stephen Williams – Gerard Friell, Theodosius: The Empire at Bay, London 1998, pp. 125–138; Markus Löx, Die Kirche San Lorenzo in Mailand: eine Stiftung des Stilicho?, in: “Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts. Römische Abteilung,” vol. 114, 2008, pp. 407-438.

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//// THE CHAPEL’S FUNCTION AND ICONOGRAPHY

The last chapter of the thesis attempts to deal with questions of the function of the chapel of Sant’Aquilino, as well as the used iconography inside the edifice. [FIG. 18] In previous chapters, I have already tried to close two different matters of the structure, that is the dating and the founder of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel. These two aspects of the Milanese building helped to specify the time period, in which the construction of the chapel is placed, and to which provenience it belongs to when speaking about the founder as well.

Main questions of the fourth chapter – the function and iconography – have to be defined more specifically. The part dealing with the function will start with three possible purposes of the building, followed by a decision for only one. Afterwards, it will continue with the issue of the applied architecture during Sant’Aquilino’s construction. The architectural structure will be defined by means of comparison with other architectural structures from more or less the same time period. This architectural aspect of the monument will be connected with opinions of scholars, who had written about the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino until now, such as Carlo Bertelli, Giuseppe Bovini, Enrico Cattaneo, Massimiliano David, Ivan Foletti and others. The particular conclusions of scholars will gradually get the chapter to its second section, which is the question of the iconography. The function is often interpreted based on the iconography of the remaining scenes within the space of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel. That is why the description of the mosaic decoration inside is essential not only for the determination of the possible cycle of the whole architectural structure but also for the plausible function of the building. A . The type of the edifice – the mausoleum of Sant’Aquilino? At the beginning of the chapter, it is necessary to point out that the great discussion about the purpose of the chapel of Sant’Aquilino

- 80 - took place during the years and three possible purposed were suggested – baptismal, funeral and martyrial one.238 At first sight, all the purposed functions are likely however, each of them is supported by different scholar and from a different reason.239 What is important to say, not each of them is supported just as firmly as the other. Contemporary scholars, who have studied the monument have more or less closed the debate and accepted the funeral function of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel.240 The scholars’ discussion about the chapel’s function was concluded due to the archaeological excavation, which confirmed that no baptismal font was ever present within the

238 For baptismal function, see: Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, Sant'Ambrogio e le più antiche basiliche milanesi, in: Note di archeologia cristiana. Vita e pensiero, Mailand 1940; For martyrial function, see: André Grabar, Martyrium: recherches sur le culte des reliques et l’art chrétien antique, London 1972; For funeral function, see: Ivan Foletti, Il trionfo della figura: Sant’Aquilino, San Vittore in Ciel d’oro a Milano e la retorica del V secolo, in: Medioevo, natura e figura, Milano 2015, pp. 129–137; Dale Kinney, Cappella Reginae: S. Aquilino in Milano, in: Studies in the History of Art, vol. XV, 1970–1971, pp. 13–35; Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987; Enrico Cattaneo, "La tradizione e il rito ambrosini nell'ambiente lombardo-medioevale", in: Ambrosius Episcopus. Atti del Congresso internazionale di studi ambrosiani nel XVI centenario della elevazione di Sant'Ambrogio alla cattedra episcopale (Milano 2-7 dicemre 1974), Giuseppe Lazzati ed., Milano 1976, t. II, pp. 5–47; Aristide Calderini, Gino Chierici, Carlo Cecchelli, La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1951; Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, pp. 61–82. 239 All of the type of buildings is also often similar with each other in their architectural form and even iconographical scenes used in interior decorative cycles. Important is also the fact that the expansion of constructing of all three architectural structures started in the 4th century. Nevertheless, it has to be said that it is rather the matter of an increase of the Christian faith with the reign of Constantine, and also the urge to have places to become the Christian, to worship the faith and to be buried in the right way. See Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, pp. 17–19. 240 Ivan Foletti, Milano capitale, tra Roma e Ravenna: circolazione di botteghe, di materiali e di idee, in: La Circolazione Del Mosaico Nell’alto Medioevo: Dalla Materia Prima Alla Messa In Opera Di Un Progetto Artistic, Brno 2015.

- 81 - chapel’s space.241 Also, relics were not found there until the changing of the dedication of the chapel from the Chapel of St. Genesio to the Chapel of St. Aquilino in the 15th century, when they were moved into the chapel.242 It is difficult to add any other information to the archaeological findings since written sources seem to be concentrated on the dating or the founder of Sant’Aquilino’s, the same cannot be applied to the question of the function. The only source touching this question is the one written by the pope Alexander II during the 11th century, which spoke about the possibility that Galla Placidia and her first husband Athaulf were buried in Sant’Aquilino.243 Few references from the 18th and 19th centuries are

241 Laura Fieni – Luigi Salemi, La cappella di Sant’Aquilino a Milano, in: Architettura e materiali del Novecento, Venezia 2004, pp. 663–672; Laura Fieni, La costruzione della Basilica di San Lorenzo a Milano, Milano 2005. A definition of a baptisery: “the baptistery is a building used for the rite of baptism into the Christian Church. In Late Antiquity the term baptisterium or baptisterion (Lat. baptizare: ‘to dip under water’), which designated a swimming bath (e.g. Pliny the younger: Letters II. xvii. 11), was applied to the baptismal piscina or font and then to the whole structure, in which baptism took place. […] The form of the baptistery was affected by changes in the baptismal rite, often related to shifts in the social function of initiation.” See Colum P. Hurihane, The Grove Encyclopaedia of Medieval Art & Architecture, vol. 5, Oxford 2012, pp. 232–234. 242 For more about the matter of the changed dedication of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino, see: Raffaelle Bagnoli, S. Aquilino martire nel culto e nella tradizione milanese, Milano 1939. A definition of a martyrium: “Term referring to a site that bears witness to the Christian faith, such as a significant event in the life and Passion of Christ, the tomb of saint or martyr, and his or her place of suffering or testimony. It is also used to mean the structure erected over such a site. Monumental martyria form an important category of Early Christian architecture, and were built according to a variety of plans. […] and by c. 350 martyrion or martyrium was commonly used to refer to the location of martyr’s tomb and the commemorative shrine or church constructed over it.” See Colum P. Hurihane, The Grove Encyclopaedia of Medieval Art & Architecture, vol. 5, Oxford 2012, pp. 228–230. 243 Giovan Pietro Puricelli, Laurentii Littae Vita, p. 275, XIX; Laudadeo Testi, La forma primitiva delle gallerie lombarde e Cappella di S. Aquilino nel S. Lorenzo Maggiore di Milano, Messina 1902, p.22.

- 82 - chapel going in the same sense.244 The plausibility of the last mentioned sources may have been questioned, however crossing them with the archaeological evidence it might be decided, quite easily, to the funeral function of the chapel.245 . . Sant’Aquilino’s chapel and other buildings? Furthermore, the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino was according to many scholars modelled on the form of Maximian’s mausoleum.246 The Mausoleum of Maximian was mentioned in a found letter from 392 by Saint Ambrose (340–397), who carried out a post of a Milanese bishop

244 Let me mention two examples, one from the 18th century – Ralph Symonds, the English traveller who might also help us to reconstruct the inner decoration of the Sant’Aquilino’s chapel. Thanks to his sketches we have not only a few fragments of mural paintings but also sketches of sarcophagi, which were within the space of the chapel. According to found sarcophagi, R. Symonds concluded that it has to be Galla Placidia’s one and that is why she had to be buried there. The second example, is from the second half of the 19th century. In, 1856 Giovanni Dozio was convinced that the architectural structure might have been used as a mausoleum. Furthermore, as Galla Placidia’s one. Both of them had re- opened the already mentioned proposition made by the pope Alexander II, eight centuries before Dozio. See Massimiliano David, De aurea ecclesia Genesii, in: Milano ritrovata: La via sacra da San Lorenzo al duomo (ed. by Maria Luisa Gatti Perer), Milano 1991, pp. 49–61, (RALPH SYMONDS, 1652 ca., conserved in Bodelian Library in Oxford). 245 A definition of a mausoleum: “Monumental form of tomb. It is name is derived from one of the most famous buildings of antiquity, the funerary monument completed c. 350 BC at Halikarnassos in Asia Minor in honour of Mausolos, Satrap of Caria (reg 377–353 BC), and his wife Artemisia (d 351 BC). A mausoleum is a house of the dead, although it is often as much a symbol as a sepulchre. […] Various Roman types of mausoleum continued to be built after the triumph of Christianity, but increasingly the mausoleum came to be allied to a church. Between the 4th and 6th centuries, the traditional concept of the mausoleum became linked with the idea of martyrium.” See Colum P. Hurihane, The Grove Encyclopaedia of Medieval Art & Architecture, vol. 5, Oxford 2012, pp. 255–256. 246 Aristide Calderini – Gino Chierici – Carlo Cecchelli, La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1951. p. 140; Walter Eugene Kleinbauer, Toward a Dating of San Lorenzo in Milan, in: ArtLomb, vol. 13, 1968, p. 19.

- 83 - between 374 to 397.247 It is presumable that Maximian’s mausoleum was constructed for an emperor Maximian (286–305, 307 –308) and that would be accordance with the first half of the 4th century, precisely around 310.248 The appearance of the building is known only from a veduta created around 1570, plans and also from descriptions.249 [FIG. 19] Therefore, we are able to, at least briefly, describe the mausoleum – The structure consisted of a large steep octagon with small windows and the highest level of the outer walls was lightened by a dwarf gallery. It is not only the exterior, which was comparable to Sant’Aquilino, but also the interior was alike – alternating rectangular and semi-circular niches, covered by colourful marble and filled with the emperor’s porphyry sarcophagus. From what we know, it is possible to claim that the architectural solution of both the structures are similar, or is almost identical. However, we could assert this mainly about the exterior, the true appearance of the interior is rather hidden for us. Other octagonal structures from the 4th century might be mentioned, such as the Rotunda in Thessaloniki (around 300), which was situated within the area of the palace and had the octagonal shape and also the double semi- circular vestibule. The inner decoration may be also compared with the decorations in Sant’Aquilino’s chapel however, that will be discussed later. [FIG. 20]

247 See for more about Saint Ambrose: Saint Ambrose, The Letters of S. Ambrose, bishop of Milan (ed. by James Parker et al.), Oxford 1881; Ambrose, (De Sacramentis) On the Mysteries and the treatise on the Sacraments (ed. by J. H. Srawleydd), London/New York 1919; Franco Cardini, Contro Ambrogio. Una sublime, tormentosa grandezza, Rome 2016; Angelo Paredi, Sant’Ambrogio e la sua età, Milano 2015. 248 See Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009; Gillian Mackie, Early Christian Chapels in the West. Decoration, Function, and Patronage, Toronto 2003; Suzanne Lewis, San Lorenzo Revisited: A Theodosian Palace Church in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 32, no. 3 (Oct. 1973), California, pp. 197–222; Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987. 249 Richard Krautheimer, Three Christian Capitals. Topography & Politics: Rome, Constantinople, Milan, London 1983, p. 70.

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Another comparable 4th century structure is the Mausoleum of Diocletian at Split, which was finished not later that in about 312 AD.250 [FIG. 21]The mausoleum at Split might be compared to Sant’Aquilino’s one mainly because the same octagonal shape, a pyramidal roof, alternating rectangular and semi-circular niches and also because of the eight columns, which were inside the space in each corner.251 Remains of columns were found out by Laura Fieni during the archaeological excavation.252 I would also like to mention also the structure of today’s Church of Santa Constanza (340–360), which used to be a mausoleum before. [FIG. 22]Although, Santa Constanza is a centralized circular building, and it could be compared to the Mausoleum of Helena in Rome (315– 327).253 There are still some crucial points to compare – alternating semi- circular and rectangular niches, also eight columns in each corner and the double-shelled solution of the architectural structure. The interior is decorated with mosaics and marble plaques.254 [FIG. 23] The inner decoration consists of many other comparable aspects of the building – floral and zoomorphic decoration or a depiction of Elijah and also the giving of the Law.255 The entire building also consists of a vestibule, which was probably established similarly to Sant’Aquilino’s one – a

250 For more about the Palace of Diocletian, see: Lj. Karaman, Palača cara Dioklecijana, Zagreb 1927, pp. 295–305; Nikola Bojić, Diocletian’s Palace in the architectural discourse of Team 10, in: Liminal spaces of art between Europe and the Middle East (ed. by Ivana Prijatelj Pavicic), Newcastle 2018, pp. 12–27; Joško Belamarić, The date of foundation and original function of Diocletian’s palace at Split, Zagreb 2003, pp. 173–185. 251 George Niemann, Der Palast Diokletians in Spalato, Wien 1910, pp. 71–72 252 Mark Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, pp. 161–163 253 For more about the Mausoleum of Helene, see: Laura Vendittelli, Il Mausoleo di Sant’Elena, gli scavi, Milano 2011; Dafne Oosten, The mausoleum of Helena and the adjoining basilica “Ad Duas Lauros“ – construction, evolution and reception, in: Monuments & memory (ed. by Mariëtte Verhoeven, Lex Bosman and Hanneke van Asperen), Turnhout 2016, pp. 131–143. 254 Ibidem. 255 Mark Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, 148–150

- 85 - central rectangular space with two semi-circular closures. The entire part of the vestibule is also lower than the building of the mausoleum itself, as it is also in the case of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino.256 Aforementioned structures demonstrate the similarity of constructing, which was common already in the Roman period. The type of architecture also confirms the funeral function of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel. All buildings have common aspects, which could be recognized in many late antique structures all over the Roman Empire – east and west – and might be also a sign of a common source of the inspiration. All the edifices were also of an imperial character, which means that they were commissioned by emperors.257 B . The chapel’s purpose and scholars’ hypotheses The iconography of the inner mosaic decoration is not absolutely clear. Although, fragments of mosaics had been already known before Joseph Wilpert’s visit of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino in the 1930s, mosaics scene were not studied in depth and no one tried to interpret it.258 The state of the entire decorative cycle, when it was in around the year 1900 found, is quite unsure. Also, conditions of individual fragments were probably in various condition, that lasts also until these

256 Charles Édouard Isabelle, Les édifices circulaires et les domes, classes par ordre chronologiquw et considérés sous le rapport de leur disposition, de leur construction et de leur décoration, Paris 1855, p. 81; Mark Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, 148–150. 257 Mark J Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, 156-167; Per Jonas Nordhagen, Working with Wilpert. The Illustrations in Die römischen Mosaiken und Malereien and their Source Value, in: Acta ad Archaelogiam et Artivm Historiam Pertinentia (ed. by Hjalmar Torp ac.), vol. V, Roma 1985. 258 Per Jonas Nordhagen, The mosaics of the Cappella di S. Aquilino in Milan, in: Acta ad archaelogiam at atrium historiam pertinetia, vol. VIII, Roma 1982, p. 78; Aristide Calderini, Gino Chierici, Carlo Cecchelli, La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1951, p. 256.

- 86 - days.259 After the re-examination, it was found out that mosaics are not in the original state and had already been under the restoration.260 Many scholars also evinced a great interest in the original decoration of the entire Chapel of Sant’Aquilino. We might identify the probable visualisation of the chapel due to the sketches from a diary of the English traveller, Ralph Symonds. We are able to claim that in the cupola was probably depicted a semi-figure of Christ with four angels around His medallion, and also Apostles and Prophets. According to Symonds’s drawings, we can add that there were also festoons and floral ornamentation, which was typical for Roman mausoleums in general, such as Santa Costanza in Rome (340–360).261 They are still two preserved mosaics directly in the mausoleum of the Sant’Aquilino, and few areas of mosaic fragments also in its vestibule.

The first preserved mosaic is located in the east-western apse and according to a predominant belief, it captures Christ between the Apostles.262 However, it has to be said that it is not the only reading of the depicted scene. The other opinions go in the direction of scenes, where Chris portrays the main role, such as Maiestas Domini.263 The scene is often presented in the main apses and also on tympanums or sarcophagi, such as for example, the depiction of Maiestas Domini in

259 Joseph Wilpert, Die römischen Mosaiken der kirchlichen Bauten vom IV-XIII. Jahrhundert (ed. by W. N. Schumacher), Freiburg 1976, p. 16. 260 Per Jonas Nordhagen, The mosaics of the Cappella di S. Aquilino in Milan, in: Acta ad archaelogiam at atrium historiam pertinetia, vol. VIII, Roma 1982, p. 79. Restorations were done by the Norwegian Institute in Rome for the study of Early Christian mosaics in 1970s. 261 Ivan Foletti, Il trionfo della figura: Sant’Aquilino, San Vittore in Ciel d’oro a Milano e la retorica del V secolo, in: Medioevo, natura e figura, Milano 2015, p. 17. 262 For the hypothesis about the Christ between Apostles, see: Ivan Foletti, Il trionfo della figura: Sant’Aquilino, San Vittore in Ciel d’oro a Milano e la retorica del V secolo, in: Medioevo, natura e figura, Milano 2015, Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, pp. 61–82. 263 For the hypothesis about the Maiestas Domini, see: Sergio Bettini, I mosaici di San Vitale a Ravenna, Milano 1965.

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Hosios David in Thessalonica, built around 425–450 [FIG. 24] or in the Basilica of St. Pudenziana in Rome, constructed between 410– 417. [FIG. 25] Another possibility is the scene of the Transfiguration of Christ on the Mount,264 which is possible to observe for instance, in an apse of the sixth-century Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai in Egypt. [FIG. 26] 265 This last hypothesis is however already very dated and seems impossible to defend: at the Transfiguration three Apostol only assisted. There is also the hypothesis, which points towards the possibility that there is depicted Traditio Legis in the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino.266 This type of depiction is placed for instance, on sarcophagi, ivory plates or in apses. It is possible to notice Traditio Legis in the Mausoleum of Santa Costanza in Rome [FIG. 27] or on the Capsella di San Nazaro, which is made after 376 AD. [FIG. 28]. Although the resemblance between Traditio Legis and Christ between the Apostles is quite similar, it is possible to recognize a few differences. The iconography of Traditio Legis is based on main three figures: Saint Peter – Jesus Christ – Saint Paul. In some cases, St. Paul is receiving a scroll from Christ, in other, it seems that Peter is receiving a book. These two aspects are not present on the mosaic in Sant’Aquilino’s chapel. The scene looks rather as follows – On the golden background, we can observe thirteen male figures. Twelve figures of apostles are dressed in white togas with blue details. Each face of apostles is individualised and has a specific characteristic. The figure

264 For the hypothesis about the Transfiguration of the Christ, see: Barbier de Montault, Les mosaiques des églises de Ravenne, Paris 1897. 265 “Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.“ See Luke, 9:28–30 266 For the hypothesis about the Traditio Legis, see: Ildefonso Schuster, Liber sacramentorum. Geschichtliche und liturgische Studien über das römische Meßbuch, Regensburg 1929–1932.

- 88 - of Christ in the middle of the scene is the most significant. He is depicted as a young beardless man sitting on a throne. Christ is holding a scroll in his left hand, and his right hand is raised to heaven in a gesture of speaking. Two closest figures to Christ are Paul and Peter – both depicted typically for them. The apse scene is hemmed in with two diverse bands. The first one is colourful – dark and light blue, gold and red – the motif of the band is kind of a wavy ribbon. The second green band consists of a line of golden crosses. Bovini was concerned by the ornamental frame of the scene and presented it as a variation of the same ornamentation, which is in the Mausoleum of Constantina in Rome.267 Therefore, I would rather side with the suggested depiction of Christ between the Apostles. My opinion is mainly based on the most firmly claimed opinion of scholars and distinguishing of differences between other plausible scenes. In addition, there is a similar depiction of Jesus Christ between the Apostles in Roman catacombs, particularly the Catacombs of St. Domitilla in Rome (around 400), which can be easily compared with the scene in Sant’Aquilino’s chapel. [FIG. 29] The composition is more or less the same and young beardless Christ is also sitting on the throne with his right hand raised to heaven and holding a scroll in his left one. Furthermore, the function of this Late Roman space is also in correspondence with Sant’Aquilino’s one – it served for burial purposes.

The second present mosaic is placed in the east-northern apse and is in a worse state that the first mural scene. The scene interpretation is not clear, in order to this there are few possible suggestions for the depicted scene. The first plausible proposition is Christ as the God Sol.268 This type of depiction is possible to observe also

267 Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, pp. 61–82. 268 For the hypothesis about the Christ with the carriage, see: André Grabar–Carl Nordenfalk, Early Medieval Painting from the Fourth to the Eleventh Century (The Great Centuries of Painting), Ney York 1957.

- 89 - in the 3rd century tomb under St. Peter’s Basilica.269 [FIG. 30] It is the symbolism of the Christ-Helios, which is still in close relation with non- Christian scenes in sacral spaces of pagans.270 Another proposed scene is the Sacrifice of Isaac, which may be found for instance, in the 4th century Roman Catacombs on the Via Latina but also in other mediums, such as ivories or sarcophagi.271 There is also highly implausible speculation, which is the depiction of Christ’s nativity.272 The nativity of Christ may be observed for example, on late antique sarcophagi, particularly on one of the sarcophagi, which are preserved in the Museé de l’Arles.273 [Fig. 31] Afterwards, there are two other propositions, which work with pastoral thematic. Firstly, it was suggested that it might be a trivial depiction of the pastoral scene with no other meaning.274 And secondly, most scholars are nowadays convinced that the mosaic is in accordance

269 For more about catacombs in Rome: Irina Oryshkevich, From necropolis to metropolis. The afterlife of the roman catacombs, in: History takes place: Rome (ed. by Anna Hofmann and Martin Zimmermann), Rome 2017, pp. 56–70; David L. Balch, From Edymion in Roman domus to Jonah in Christian catacombs, from houses of the living to houses for the dead. Iconography and religion in transition, in: Commemoration the dead (ed. by Laura Brink and Deborah Green), Berlin 2008, pp. 273–301. 270 For more about pagan symbolism in late antiquity, see: Troels Myrup Kristensen, Making and breaking the gods. Christian response to pagan sculpture in late antiquity, Aarhus 2013. 271 For the hypothesis about the Sacrifice of Isaac, see: Joseph A. Crowe– G. B. Cavalcaselle, A new history of painting in Italy from the second to the sixteenth century, London 1864–1866. 272 For the hypothesis about the Birth of Christ, see: Eugene Müntz, Les premiers historiens des mosaïques romaines, Paris 1902; Pavel P. Muratov, La peinture byzantine, Paris 1928. 273 For more about the art of sarcophagi, see: Jaś Elsner, Ornament, figure and mise en abyme on Roman sarcophagi, in: Ornament and figure in Graeco-Roman art (ed. by Nikolaus Detrich and Michael Squire), Berlin 2018, pp. 353–392; Joseph Wilpert, I sarcophagi cristiani antichi, in: Rome: Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Christiana, vol. III (Rome 1929–1936). 274 For the hypothesis about the trivial pastoral scene, see: Joseph Wilpert, Die römischen Mosaiken der kirlichen Bauten vom IV–XIII. Jahrhundert, Basel 1913.

- 90 - with the scene of the Assumption of Elijah.275 Scenes of the same kind are depicted also in other late antique spaces, such as in the catacombs or the Hypogeum at Via Dino Compagni, which was done around 360.276 [FIG. 32] I would strongly consider the lastly mentioned interpretation of the mosaic as the Assumption of Elijah, which was suggested by Joseph Wilpert’s opinion, who was the first one working with mosaics. Wilpert also suggested that it might be the scene of the trivial pastoral meaning. In this sense, it is possible to presume that this opinion gave the first impulse to scholars to think about the interpretation more deeply. The Assumption of Elijah is also possible to perceive as a scene, which is related to the funeral spaces.277 As the Bible tells, Elijah was accepted by God into the Heaven, when God sent for him a chariot of fire, also with horses of fire. Then, Elijah set out for the last journey to heaven. His spirit stays with Elisha however, they will never see each other again.278

Both of the preserved mosaics are coherent when their mutual meanings are considered. Depicted scenes are often located within places of the burial character, even though it is not possible to claim that it is their only use.279 Nevertheless, the composition is one of the aspects,

275 For the hypothesis about the Assumption of Elijah, see: : Ivan Foletti, Il trionfo della figura: Sant’Aquilino, San Vittore in Ciel d’oro a Milano e la retorica del V secolo, in: Medioevo, natura e figura, Milano 2015, Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, s. 61–82. 276 For more information about the monument: Idoia Camiruaga, La arquitectura del hipogeo de Via Latina en Roma, Burgos 1994; Zoë l. Devlin – Jayne Graham, Death Embodied: Archaeological Approaches to the Treatment of Corpse, in: Studies in funerary archaeology, Oxford 2015. 277 Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, s. 61–82. 278 “As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.” 2 Kings 2:11 279 For baptismal purpose read more in: Aristide Calderini – Gino Chierici – Carlo Cecchelli, La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1951, (especially C. Cecchelli’s part); C. Ihm, Die Programme der christlichen Apsismalerei vom vierten

- 91 - which also create the mutual perception of remaining mosaics. The depiction of the Christ with Apostles may be understood as a certain model for the bishop and clerics, which they should follow within the liturgical space.280 This interpretation is based on the preaching of Ambrose himself.281 On the other, the depiction of the Assumption of Elijah could be perceived as a proof of immortality, which is offered to Elijah by God. Moreover, following the same Ambrose, read this scene also in an ecclesiological way, as an image of the church: as Elijah the church is the medium through which the believer can join the paradise.282 Nonetheless, the presence of rivers in both scenes is a mutual aspect. Regarding the presence of rivers on both mosaics, it is possible to consider it as a desire to keep mosaics incoherence. Their presence is also showing the fact that both scenes are happening in the celestial world: they are representing the upper waters, believed to be the frontier between earth and Heaven.283 This goes in the same meaning. as the interpretation proposed by Beat Brenk: according to him, scenes are placed in the cosmic sphere, which we are able to suppose not only due to the golden background but also because of

Jahrhundert bis zur Mitte des achten Jahrhunderts, Wiesbaden 1960, pp. 158–159; Per Jonas Nordhagen, I mosaici di Sant’Aquilino: originali e rifacimenti, in: Milano. Un capitale da Ambrogio ai Carolingi (ed. by C. Bertelli), Milan 1987, pp. 162–177. 280 Beat Brenk, The Apse, the Image and the Icon. An Historical Perspective of the Apse as a Space for Image, Wiesbaden 2010, pp. 20–22. 281 S. M. Oberhelman, Rhetoric and homileticsinfourth-centuryChristianliterature: prose rhythm, oratorical style, and preaching in the works of Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, Atlanta 1991. 282 Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, Sant'Ambrogio e le più antiche basiliche milanesi, in: Note di archeologia cristiana. Vita e pensiero, Mailand 1940, pp.87; Enrico Cattaneo, "La tradizione e il rito ambrosini nell'ambiente lombardo-medioevale", in: Ambrosius Episcopus. Atti del Congresso internazionale di studi ambrosiani nel XVI centenario della elevazione di Sant'Ambrogio alla cattedra episcopale (Milano 2-7 dicemre 1974), Giuseppe Lazzati ed., Milano 1976, t. II, pp. 385-386; Massimiliano David, De aurea ecclesia Genesii, in: Milano ritrovata: La via sacra da San Lorenzo al duomo (Maria Luisa Gatti Perer ed.), Milano 1991, pp. 49–61. 283 A. Iacobini, “Hoc elementum ceteris omnibus imperat“: l’acqua nell’universo visuale dell’alto medioevo, in: L’acqua nei secoli altomedievali, Spoleto, 12- 17aprile 2007, Spoleto 2008, pp. 985-1027, in part. pp. 1024-1025

- 92 - rivers, which divide the scene into two spaces – the real one and the imaginary one.284

It could not be forgotten about the chapel’s vestibule, which was fully covered in mosaics, however today, there are only fragments of the original mosaic decoration. The dating is also in this case not unified.285 However, I assume that it is mainly because of its not well-done restored outlines and does not correspond with its original appearance. On the left, there are martyrs and underneath patriarchs. In the first register, there is a scene of the Temptation of Tamara. On the right, there are located Apostles. From fragments, it is possible to recognize St. Matthias, St. Jacob and St. Judas Thaddaeus, who is still on walls. Scholars interpret the entire space of the chapel’s vestibule, on the base of John’s apocalypse, as the Heavenly Jerusalem – twelve gates and above them twelve angels with names and twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.286 The city walls should be situated on twelve columns, where names of twelve apostles are written. In addition, if the burial purpose of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel is supported, it is also crucial to mention of the gallery, which is in the chapel present, which could help with the interpretation of the space as a mausoleum. Depicted scenes are mainly of floral and zoomorphic character. [FIG. 33] Another building, which is very similar – except for the Mausoleum of Constantina in Rome – is also Hagios Georgios in Thessaloniki, also called the Rotunda of Galerius.287 [FIG. 34] The

284 Beat Brenk, The Apse, the Image and the Icon. An Historical Perspective of the Apse as a Space for Image, Wiesbaden 2010, pp. 20–22. “Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” See Revelation 22.1 285 For more: Carlo Bertelli, I mosaici di Sant’Aquilino, in: La Basilica di San Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1983, s. 145–169; Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, pp. 61–82. 286 Madhavi Nevader, On Reading Ezekiel by the Rivers of Babylon, in: Die Welt des Orients Bd. 45, H. 1 (2015), pp. 99–110. 287 For more about the Rotunda (Hagios Georgios), see: Slobodan Ćurčić, Christianization of Thessalonikē. The making of Chrstian “urban iconography,” in:

- 93 - probable foundation took place around 300 AD and so we are able to claim that the edifice was erected in the time of the reign of Galerius (250–311).288 We might find a lot of sources, which refer to the Hagios Georgios, as a relatively rare type of architectural structure in Greece, even though there was also another octagonal edifice at Thessaloniki, which was destroyed around the year 450.289 What is more, the plan of the destroyed building was the same as Sant’Aquilino’s.290 [FIG. 35] The main interior strikingly reminds the inner space of Roman Pantheon (113–125) and its ceiling oculus.291 The first important moment, in relation to the general structure seems to be similar to the original composition of the dome of Sant’Aquilino’s – although, the scenes are made with mosaic, the theme is fairly similar – various types of birds in octagonal tiles. The similar depiction of the ornaments specifically divided into certain tiles is also presented in the Catacombs of Commodilla in Rome. [FIG. 36] It is legitimate to recall Roman spaces, which are full of the coffered ceiling, such as the Pantheon or even the

From Roman to Early Christuan Thessalonikē (ed. by Laura Nasrallah, Charalambos Bakirtzis, and Steven J. Friesen), Cambridge 2010, pp. 213–244; Bente Kiilerich – Hjalmar Torp, The Rotunda in Thessaloniki and its mosaics, Athens 2017. 288 Only one source gives the place of his burial – the city of Romuliana in the province of Dacia–Ripensis, the same city in which he was born and that he had renamed in honour of his mother, Romula. Thought it is popular to refer to the Rotunda in Thessaloniki as the Mausoleum of Galerius, there is no indication that he had planned on being buried in any place other than Romuliana. The fact that he was divinized is a good indication that his burial plans had been carried out, for the consecration coins. Srejović made the convincing assertion that the recently discovered “Mausoleum II” at Gamzigrad was his. There is no reason to believe as Waurick that he was not permitted to be buried in Thessaloniki because of damnatio memoriae. See Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, pp. 74–82, pp. 139–156. 289 John Bryan Ward-Perkins, Imperial Mausolea and Their Prossible Influence on Early Christian Central-Plan Buildings, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, California 1966, pp. 297–299. 290 Michael Vickers, Observations on the Octagon at Thessaloniki, in: The Journal of Roman Studies, vol. 63, Cambridge 1973, pp. 111–120. 291 Ibidem, p. 112.

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Basilica of Maxentius (308–312).292 [FIG. 37] However, the division of the ceiling space is obvious coherence, I would suggest that the aim of these decorations is different.293 Sant’Aquilino’s decorations located in the space of the inside dwarf gallery might be also compared to the other floral and faunal scenes, which are presented already in Pompeii (from 2nd century BC). Nevertheless, I still believe that depictions, which are located within the space of Pompeii or other late antique monuments constructed for pagan life, are rather narrative and creating an environment, which is believable.294 [FIG. 38] It seems to be problematic to use Hagios Georgios as a term of comparison, its legitimacy is however suggested by the fact Theodosius had to be familiar with the Thessaloniki’s edifice. The emperor stayed in Thessaloniki from 380 until 387, and that was the time when Hagios Georgios was already constructed and possibly decorated.295 Due to this circumstance, Hagios Georgios could have served as a source of the inspiration and as the monument, which might support not only the burial character of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel but also the composition of the inner decorative cycle. Theodosius I the Great, or someone from his entourage, may have also known the bust of Christ surrounded by four angles, which is located in the dome and could be compared with Ralph Symonds’s

292 For more information about the Basilica of Maxentius, see: Luise Albrecht – Marina Döring-Williams, Schematic reconstruction of a type of Roman scaffolding used for the Basilica of Maxentius, vol. I, 2018, pp. 309–316; Carlo Giavarini, La basilica di Massenzio, il monumento, i materiali, le strutture, la stabilitÁ, Rome 2005. 293 For more see: Elizabeth Marlowe, “That customary magnificence which is your due.” Constantine and the symbolic capital of Rome, New York 2004; Juliette Day – Raimo Hakolo – Maijastina Kahlos, Spaces in Late Antiquity – Cultural, Theological and Archaeological Perspectives, London 2016. 294 For more information about Pompeii: see: Kristina Thomas, Punctum Temporis – Der dargestellte Augenblick in der pompejanischen Wandmalerei, Würzburg 2019; Antonella Coralini, Pompei. Insula IX 8: vecchi e nuovi scavi, Bologna 2018; Clelia Cirillo – Luigi Scarpa – Giovanna Acampora et. al., Pompeii – Nature and Architecture, Naples 2015, pp. 719–728. 295 For more information about the emperor Theodosius I the Great, see: Thomas Hodgkin, The Dynasty of Theodosius, or, Eighty years‘ struggle with the barbarians, Oxford 1990; Stephen Williams – Gerard Friell, Theodosius: The Empire at Bay, London 1998, pp. 65–78.

- 95 - sketch, and which reminds the composition of Hagios Georgios. [FIG. 39]

The crucial point why even the decoration of the dwarf gallery considers as a something, which could be connected with funeral spaces, is the thinking about the entire decorative cycle of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino as a whole. „If the octagonal shape of the building will be taken into consideration, it can be explained in the sense of the prophecy of the Sibyls.296 The substance of the number eight points towards the Celestial house– which supposed to be located above eight heavens.297 Before it is possible to enter the octagonal room itself, it is necessary to walk in the first room of the chapel (vestibule), where is the space creating the Heavenly Jerusalem. The city should be placed behing twelve gates and its walls should be located on twelve columns, where names of twelve apostles are presented.298 After, the octagonal chapel was originally filled up with the mosaic decorative cycle, which led the visitor from the earthly space through the divided river of Jordan depicted in apses to the celestial imaginary space, which is depicted on golden backgrounds.299 On the left side, it continues with the Ascension of the Elijah, who divided the river Jordan into two parts with the help of his mantle and then even Elisa could have crossed the river with dry feet. On the opposite side, the Christ and Apostles are sitting in a row as a kind of a jury, it is clear that their convention is placed within the celestial space. Then, there is present the dwarf gallery covered by mural paintings. This level of the decoration could be understood perhaps as a

296 Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, pp. 61–82. 297 See more: Jorge Guilermo, Sibyls: Prophecy and Power in the Ancient World, Duckworth 2013; Herbert W. Parke, Sibyls and Sibylline prophecy in classical antiquity, London 1988. 298 John Garrard, The Twelve: Blok’s Apocalypse, in: Religion & Literature, vol. 35, no. 1 (Spring 2003), pp. 45–72; Paul E. Eickmann, A Common Thread in the Apocalyptical Symbolism of Ezekiel and John’s Revelation [Presented to Central Pastor-Teacher Conference in Western Wisconsin District-WELS, April 4, 1987] 299 Albert I. Baumgarten, Apocalyptic Time, in: Numen Book Series. Studies in the History of Religions (ed. by W. J. Hanegraaff), vol. 86 (Leiden 2000), pp. 113–155.

- 96 - paradisiac garden above the earth, and which indicates to what is coming after the death.300 As the crown moment of the chapel probably worked the bust of Christ in the dome surrounded by angels, evangelists and apostles. In accordance to this, the eternal glory will come for those, who are buried underneath – with the death the physical core of the man leaves the Earth, however, his substance remains in existence and will come to the Heavenly Kingdom.301 Summary

Finally, I would support the proposal of the funerary function of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino.302 The hypothesis is plausible mainly because all mentioned aspects – which point towards the burial purpose quite heavily: Firstly, nowadays, there is nothing, which would indicate towards baptismal or martyrial functions and nothing relevant for these two functions was found by the archaeological team during excavations.303 There were no piscina or pipe works, which would be able

300 Madhavi Nevader, On Reading Ezekiel by the Rivers of Babylon, in: Die Welt des Orients vol. 45, no. 1 (2015), pp. 99–110. 301 See more: Georgia Frank, Death in the flesh. Picturing death’s body and abode in Late Antiquity, Princeton 2012; Lucy Grig, Life and Death in Late Antiquity. Religious Rituals and Popular Culture, in: A Companion to Religion in Late Antiquity (ed. by Josef Lössl and Nicholas J. Baker-Brian), pp. 453– 473. 302 Ivan Foletti, Il trionfo della figura: Sant’Aquilino, San Vittore in Ciel d’oro a Milano e la retorica del V secolo, in: Medioevo, natura e figura, Milano 2015, pp. 129–137. Dale Kinney, Cappella Reginae: S. Aquilino in Milano, in: Studies in the History of Art, vol. XV, 1970–1971, pp. 13–35; Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987; Enrico Cattaneo, "La tradizione e il rito ambrosini nell'ambiente lombardo-medioevale", in: Ambrosius Episcopus. Atti del Congresso internazionale di studi ambrosiani nel XVI centenario della elevazione di Sant'Ambrogio alla cattedra episcopale (Milano 2-7 dicemre 1974), Giuseppe Lazzati ed., Milano 1976, t. II, pp. 5-47; Aristide Calderini, Gino Chierici, Carlo Cecchelli, La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1951; Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, pp. 61–82. 303 Laura Fieni – Luigi Salemi, La cappella di Sant’Aquilino a Milano, in: Architettura e materiali del Novecento, Venezia 2004, pp. 663–672; Laura Fieni, La costruzione della Basilica di San Lorenzo a Milano, Milano 2005.

- 97 - to bring the water inside of the building.304 They neither found anybody underneath, which would indicate for the martyrium. St. Aquilino’s corpse was placed in the chapel only in the 15th century.305 Secondly, the architectural form corresponds to the central type of buildings, which is a type for mausoleums however, not exclusively. Nevertheless, the architectural structure corresponds with plans of the Mausoleum of Diocletian in Spoleto or the Mausoleum of St. Helene in Rome, where is the same alternation of niches and also the same vestibule with double semi-circular closure.306 Lastly, the interior decoration cycle, which can be reconstructed thanks to the drawings of Ralph Symonds is closely linked to the funeral character of Roman pagan and also Christian buildings.307 Symonds also found sarcophagi within the space of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino in the 17th century.308

304 Laura Fieni – Luigi Salemi, La cappella di Sant’Aquilino a Milano, in: Architettura e materiali del Novecento, Venezia 2004, pp. 663–672; Laura Fieni, La costruzione della Basilica di San Lorenzo a Milano, Milano 2005; Elisabetta Neri, Silvia L. Siena, Paola Greppi, Il problema della cronologia del cantiere di San Lorenzo a Milano, vecchi e nuovi dati a confronto, Milano 1986. 305 Raffaelle Bagnoli, S. Aquilino martire nel culto e nella tradizione milanese, Milano 1939, pp. 22–25. 306 Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, pp. 156–167. 307 Massimiliano David, De aurea ecclesia Genesii, in: Milano ritrovata: La via sacra da San Lorenzo al duomo (Maria Luisa Gatti Perer ed.), Milano 1991, pp. 49–61; Mark Humphries, Christianity and Paganism in the Roman Empire, 250–450 CE, in: A Companion to Religion in Late Antiquiry (ed. by Josef Lössl and Nicholas J. Baker-Brian), London 2018, pp. 61–80. 308 Massimiliano David, De aurea ecclesia Genesii, in: Milano ritrovata: La via sacra da San Lorenzo al duomo (Maria Luisa Gatti Perer ed.), Milano 1991, pp. 49–61

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CONCLUSION In connection with the presented revelations, I would like to conclude in a brief résumé. The essential aim of this thesis was to map the fate of the outside structure and the inner space of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino. Previous pages attempted to set the late antique monument into the context of the entire Laurentian complex, and what is more, also into the surroundings of Milan and the historical circumstances. Sant’Aquilino’s chapel has not been the number one studied building in Milan before. However, this fact changed with the beginning of the 21st century. Scholars’ points of view were rather different and their conclusions and hypotheses were often contradictory concerning the dating, the founder and the function.

All the studies pointed out the horrible fate of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino which caused today’s appearance of this particular sacral space. All the treatment from different time periods, mainly from the 17th and 18th centuries, and historical circumstances, such as destructions of cupolas not only of the Basilica of San Lorenzo but also of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino, left their marks. The catastrophe for the inner mosaic decoration was the mentioned modern treatment and also the restoration from the 1930s. Twentieth-century restorers – in an effort to re-discover hidden mosaic decorations – plucked the modern layer of decoration off. This intervention caused the state in which the mosaics find themselves today. The renovation of the mosaics in the first half of the 20th century caused damage. Some places are badly restored – the positions of parts of the bodies are moved or even in a completely different shape, some of the outlines are too straight and create a wrong impression from the decoration.

Even if previous interventions have been taken into consideration, the true appearance of the chapel remains hidden.

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Therefore, it was crucial to consider written primary sources – from the 6th until the 19th centuries. The almost certain aspect which emerged from the texts was the origin of Sant’Aquilio’s chapel, which was of an imperial character. Hence, an emperor or someone close to him could be recognized as the chapel’s founder. In connection with the historical evidence, also a lot of legends or traditions have risen in the past, such as the so-called tradition of the chapel’s foundation by the Empress Galla Placidia, or that the entire complex responds to the so-called Portziana, or that the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino is cappella reginae. The royal foundation which was certain from primary sources corresponds more or less with the dating of the chapel to the end of the 4th century – the latest date being the year 402. However, scientific research spoke against this. The recently done archaeological excavation pointed towards not only a different dating but also to a different founder. According to this dating, the chapel supposed to be built somewhere between the very end of the 4th century to 410/420 and is rather in correspondence with the figure of Stilicho, the general of Theodosius’s army. Therefore, the archaeological research would have changed also the entire character of the building which would not be imperial in the end. Other possibilities were: firstly, the foundation of Sant’Aquilino’s chapel by the young emperor Honorius; and secondly, the commission of the mentioned empress Galla Placidia. Few arguments must be presented against the hypothesis about Galla Placidia’s foundation. Although the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino was originally dedicated to St. Genesius who was a martyr from the French city of Arles where Galla Placidia was prisoned by Goths between the years 412–414, I would like to say that it is rather unimaginable that any building in Milan is linked to Galla Placidia. Nothing important collocates the figure of Galla Placidia to the city so she would not have had any reason to build anything there. Furthermore, the building is first

- 100 - documented as the Golden Church of Genesius only at the beginning of the 14th century.309

Arguments presented on previous pages proved that the dating suggested by archaeological excavations cannot bring any meaningful dating or a founder that would be in full coherence with the primary sources and historical circumstances. Galla Placidia has no firm connection with Milan, Stilicho would break the imperial character of the commission and the hypothesis about Honorius cannot be accepted because of his greater interest in Rome, the relocation of the capital city into Ravenna, and also due to the unstable atmosphere in the royal court. In addition, even Laura Fieni who executed one of the archaeological excavations claimed that the dating from the end of the 4th century until 410/420 could vary. Therefore, the results of the analyses can be wrong in a range of plus or minus ten years.

The function of the chapel – although it was not a question which would not demand any discussion – was perhaps the least difficult part. Concerning a deep study done by many scholars before, I could easily decide to confirm the burial function of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino and continue only with this hypothesis.

Within the space of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino, there are only two still preserved scenes – Christ between the Apostles and the Assumption of Elijah. Even though the iconography of these depictions has many connections – both pagan and Christian – it can be read, along with the decoration of the double-apsidal vestibule, as an imaginary journey from the earth to the Heavenly Kingdom.

309 Gotofredus de Bussero, Liber notitiae sanctorum Mediolani, in Biblioteca Ambrosiana, G. 306 inf. F. 81 n. 275; Laudadeo Testi, La forma primitiva delle gallerie lombarde e Cappella di S. Aquilino nel S. Lorenzo Maggiore di Milano (n. 2), p.22.

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In connection with the work which preceded the writing of this bachelor thesis, I would gladly raise a few questions and perhaps even purpose a direction for future possible research regarding the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino. I am highly persuaded that dating has to be placed somewhere at the end of the 4th century because the construction of such a building is not possible if the capital city would be placed in Ravenna. I am still in a phase of meditating about the true founder of the entire complex and the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino itself. Even though it might not Theodosius I, the commission could have been an idea of someone from Theodosius’s social circle or even his wife Galla who carried the crucial name which was mentioned many times in written sources. It could have been also someone who was in connection with both the Western and Eastern court because Theodosius and Valentinian had a good relationship with each other. What is certain is the imperial character. This point could not be excluded.

Although it is not a trivial task, I would suggest a deep study of the inner space of the chapel and to meditate about the plausible iconographical cycle and its liturgical connection. I would also suggest being more focused on the chapel’s connection with the entire Laurentian complex and on the sacral space of all the buildings standing there like the only one which could have been connected mainly from a liturgical point of view. I suppose that the perception of the sacral space with all the senses and as an active participant in the space is the only way how to try to clarify aspects of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino which have not been confirmed yet or which are fairly doubtful.310

310 Eric Palazzo, Art, Liturgy, and the Five Senses in the Early Middle Ages, in: Viator 41 (Turnhout 2010), pp. 25–56.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary sources 1. Saint Ambrose, De Sacramentis, 4th century. 2. Venerabile Carlo (Giovanni Francesco) Bascapé, Libro di alcune cheese di Milano, Milano 1576. 3. Carlo Bascapé, De metropoli Mediolanensi, Rome 1592. 4. Holy Bible (International Version), New York 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011. 5. Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Gotofredus de Bussero, Liber notitiae sanctorum Mediolani, G. 306 inf. F. 81 n. 275. 6. Eusebius, Life of Constantine (Averil Cameron and Stuart G. Hall ed.), Oxford 1999. 7. Gualvaneus Flamma, Manipulus Forum, in: Rerum Italicarum Scriptres XI (Mediolani: In Aedibus Palatini), Città di Castello 1727. 8. Galvanus Flamma, La cronaca estravagante di Galvano Fiamma (ed. by Massimiliano David and Paolo Chiesa), Milano 2013. 9. Paulinus of Milan, Vita sancti Ambrosii (ed. by A. Bastiaensen), Milan 1975. 10. Giuseppe Ripamonti, Historiarum patriae in continuationem Tristani Calchi libri XXIII, usque ad mortem Federici Card. Borromei, Milano 1641–1643. 11. Carlo Torre, Il ritratto di Milano: diuiso in tre libri, 1674. 12. Gregorio Secondary de Tours, Gregorii episcopi turonensis: Miracula et opera minora. II, in: Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum, Hannover 1885. 13. Vitruvius, The Ten Books on Architecture (ed. by Herbert Langford Warren), Cambridge 1914.

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21. Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, pp. 61–82. 22. G. W. Bowersock–Petr Brown–Oleg Grabar, Late Antiquity. A Guide to the postclassical world, Harward 1999. 23. Beat Brenk, The Apse, the Image and the Icon. An Historical Perspective of the Apse as a Space for Image, Wiesbaden 2010. 24. Licia Vad Borrelli, Musivaria. Mosaico e opus sectile in età antica: storia, tecniche, conservazione, Roma 2016. 25. J. B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, from the death of Theodosius I. to the death of Justinian vol. 1, New York 1958. 26. William N. Byless, The Visigothic Invasion of Italy in 401, in: The Classical Journal, vol. 72, no. 1, (Oct., 1976), pp. 65–67. 27. Aristide Calderini, Gino Chierici, Carlo Cecchelli, La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Milano, Milano 1951. 28. Averil Cameron, Thoughts on the Introduction to The Conflict between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century, in: Peter Brown – Rita Lizzi Testa, Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire: The Breaking of a Dialogue (IVth-VIth Century A.D.), Münster 2011. 29. Filippo Carlà, Milan, Ravenna, Rome: Some Reflections on the Cult of the Saints and on Civic Politics in Late Antique Italy, in: Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa, no. 2, 2010. 30. Enrico Cattaneo, "La tradizione e il rito ambrosini nell'ambiente lombardo- medioevale", in: Ambrosius Episcopus. Atti del Congresso internazionale di studi ambrosiani nel XVI centenario della elevazione di Sant'Ambrogio alla cattedra episcopale (ed. by Giuseppe Lazzati), Milano 1976, t. II, pp. 5–47. 31. Enrico Cattaneo, Le vicende storiche, in La basilica di San Lorenzo a Milano, a. c. di G. dell’Acqua, pp. 13–37. 32. Gillian Clark, Women in Late Antiquity. Pagan and Christian Lifestyle, Oxford/New York 1993. 33. Slobodan Ćurčić, From the Temple of the Sun to the Temple of the Lord. Monotheistic Contribution to Architectural Iconography in Late Antiquity, in: Architectural studies in memory of Richard Krautheimer (ed. by Cecil L. Striker), Mainz 1996, pp. 55–59. 34. Massimiliano David, De aurea ecclesia Genesii, in: Milano ritrovata: La via sacra da San Lorenzo al duomo (ed. by Maria Luisa Gatti Perer), Milano 1991, pp. 49–61. 35. Friedrich W. Deichmann, Archeologia Cristiana, Rome 1993. 36. Friedrich W. Deichmann, Das Oktogon von Antiocheia, in: Byzantinische Zeitschrift (ed. by Karl Krumbacher), no. 65, Berlin/New York 1892, pp. 40–56. 37. Friedrich W. Deichmann, Die Spolien in der spätantiken Architektur, München 1974. 38. Erik Durschmied, From Armageddon to the Fall of Rome, London 2002, p. 401.

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39. Marcel Brion, Alaric, the Goth, New York 1930. 40. Hellen C. Evans – William D. Wixom, The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era A. D. 843–1261, New York 1997. 41. Laura Fieni – Luigi Salemi, La cappella di Sant’Aquilino a Milano, in: Architettura e materiali del Novecento, Venezia 2004, pp. 663–672. 42. Laura Fieni, La costruzione della Basilica di San Lorenzo a Milano, Milano 2005. 43. Alžběta Filipová, Milan sans frontières. Les reliques au service de la diffusion de l'art et de l'architecture milanais pendant l'antiquité tardive (the doctoral thesis), Masarykova Universita/ Université de Lausanne 2017. 44. Ivan Foletti, Oggetti, reliquie, migranti. La basilica ambrosiana e il culto dei suoi santi (386-972), Rome 2018. 45. Ivan Foletti, Il trionfo della figura: Sant’Aquilino, San Vittore in Ciel d’oro a Milano e la retorica del V secolo, in: Medioevo, natura e figura, Milano 2015, pp. 129–137. 46. Ivan Foletti, Milano capitale, tra Roma e Ravenna: circolazione di botteghe, di materiali e di idee, in: La Circolazione Del Mosaico Nell’alto Medioevo: Dalla Materia Prima Alla Messa In Opera Di Un Progetto Artistico. 2015. 47. Ivan Foletti, De la liminaité à la présence. Les copules milanaises, leurs decorations et la naissance du Moyen Âge, in: Entre terre et ciel. Les édifices à coupole at elur décor entre l’Antiquité tardive et le haut Moyen Âge (ed. by Chiara Croci and Vladimir Ivanovici), Lausane 2018, pp. 125–139. 48. Milano allo specchio. Da Constantino al Barbarossa, l'autopercezione di una capitale (ed. by Ivan Foletti, Irene Quadri and Marco Rossi), Roma 2016. 49. The Face of the Dead and the Early Christian World (ed. by Ivan Foletti), Rome/ Brno 2013. 50. Zuzana Frantová, Ravenna: Sedes Imperii. Artistic Trajectories in the Late Antique Mediterranean, Rome 2019. 51. Ludwig Friedlaender, Roman Life and Manners under the Early Empire, London 1908. 52. Perry Glasser, Virtual View: Visigoths inside the Gates, in: American Review, vol. 282, no. ¾, (May, 1997), pp. 76–78, 80. 53. Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire, New York 1907, p. 976–980. 54. André Grabar, Martyrium: recherches sur le culte des reliques et l’art chrétien antique, London 1972. 55. André Grabar–Carl Nordenfalk, Early Medieval Painting from the Fourth to the Eleventh Century (The Great Centuries of Painting), Ney York 1957. 56. André Grabar, Plotinus and the origins of medieval aesthetics (ed. by Adrien Palladino), Brno 2018. 57. Andreas Gryphius, Menschliches Elend and Es ist alles eitel (ca. 1630) in: Deutsche Dichtung des Barock, (ed. by E. Hederer), 1967.

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58. Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians, Oxford 2006. 59. Mark J. Johnson, Toward a History of Theodoric’s Building Program, in: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, vol. 42, Wahington 1988, pp. 73–96. 60. Mark J. Johnson, On the Burial Places of the Valentinian Dynasty, in: Historia, Band XL/4, Stuttgart 1991, pp. 501–506. 61. Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009. 62. Mark J. Johnson, Pagan-Christian Burial Practices of the Fourth Century: Shared Tombs?, in: Journal of Early Christian Studies 5:1, Baltimore 1997, pp. 37–59. 63. Mark J. Johnson, San Vitale in Ravenna and Octagonal Churches in Late Antiquity, Wiesbaden 2018. 64. Jordanes, The Origin and Deeds of the Goths (ed. by Charles C. Mierow), Princeton 1908. 65. Bente Kiilerich – Hjalmar Torp, The Rotunda in Thessaloniki and its mosaics, Athens 2017. 66. Dale Kinney, Cappella Reginae: S. Aquilino in Milano, in: Studies in the History of Art, vol. XV, 1970–1971, pp. 13–35. 67. Dale Kinney, The Evidence for the Dating of S. Lorenzo in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 31, no. 2, California (May, 1972), pp. 92–107. 68. W. Eugene Kleinbauer, ´Aedita in Turribus´: The Superstructure of the Early Christian Church of S. Lorenzo in Milan, in: Gesta, vol. 15 no. 1/2, Chicago 1976, pp. 1–9. 69. W. Eugene Kleinbauer, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Rome: The Patronage of Emperor Constantius II and Architectural Invention, in: Gesta, vol. 45 no. 2, Chicago 2006, pp.125-145. 70. Richard Krautheimer, A note on Justinian’s church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, Città del Vaticano 1900. 71. Richard Krautheimer, Rome. Profile of a City, 312–1308, Princeton 1980. 72. Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiani. Topografia e politica, Torino 1987. 73. Richard Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Harmondsworth 1986. 74. Richard Krautheimer, Success and failure in Late Antique church plannng, in: Age of spirituality (ed. by Kurt Weitzmann), New York 1980, pp. 121–139. 75. Michael Kulikowski, Rome's Gothic Wars: From the Third Century to Alaric, Cambridge 2006. 76. Thomas Christopher Lawrence, Crisis of Legitimacy: Honorius, Galla Placidia, and the Struggles for Control of the Western Roman Empire, 405–425 C.E. (doctoral dissertation), University of Tennessee, Knoxville 2013.

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77. Suzanne Lewis, San Lorenzo Revisited: A Theodosian Palace Church in Milan, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 32 no. 3, California (Oct. 1973), pp. 197–222. 78. Markus Löx, Die Kiche San Lorenzo in Mailand: Eine Stiftung des Stilicho?, in: Bullettino dell’Istituto Archeologico Germanico Sezione Romana, vol. 114, 2008, pp. 407–439. 79. Markus Löx, Monumenta Sanctorum. Rom und Mailand als Zentren des frühen Christentums: Märtyrerkult und Kirchenbau unter den Bishöfen Damasus und Ambrosius, Wiesbaden 2013. 80. Gillian Mackie, Early Christian Chapels in the West. Decoration, Function, and Patronage, Toronto 2003. 81. Ammianus Marcellinus, The Later Roman Empire: AD 354–378, Book XXXI, 1987. 82. Maureen Catherine Miller, The Bishop’s Palace: Architecture and Authority in Medieval Italy, London 2000. 83. Elisabetta Neri, Silvia L. Siena, Paola Greppi, Il problema della cronologia del cantiere di San Lorenzo a Milano, vecchi e nuovi dati a confronto, Milano 1986. 84. Elisabetta Neri, Il complesso di San Lorenzo Maggiore – nuove riflessioni, in: Silvia Lusuardi Siena e Elisabetta Neri, "Non esiste in tutto il mondo una chiesa più bella," Milano 2015, pp. 19–38. 85. Elisabetta Neri, Le pittura della galleria superiore della cappella di S. Aquilino a Milano: i motivi e le tecniche nel loro spazio architettonico, in: Rivista di archeologia, 41, Venezia 2018, pp. 125–149. 86. Elisabetta Neri, "Desuper tegens universa musivum" le décor des coupoles du complexe de Saint-Laurent à Milan, in: Entre terre et ciel. Les édifices à coupole at elur décor entre l’Antiquité tardive et le haut Moyen Âge (ed. Chiara Croci and Vladimir Ivanovici), Lausane 2018, pp. 43–64. 87. Vincenzo Fiocchi Nicolai, Strutture funerarie ed edifici di culto paleocristiani di Roma dal IV al VI secolo, Città del Vaticano 2001. 88. Per Jonas Nordhagen, The mosaics of the Cappella di S. Aquilino in Milan, in: Acta ad archaelogiam at atrium historiam pertinetia, vol. VIII, Roma 1982, pp. 77–94. 89. Per Jonas Nordhagen, Working with Wilpert. The Illustrations in Die römischen Mosaiken und Malereien and their Source Value, in: Acta ad Archaelogiam et Artivm Historiam Pertinentia (ed. Hjalmar Torp ac.), Vol. V, Roma 1985. 90. De Magnalibus Urbis Mediolani (ed. by Francesco Novati), in: Bullettino dell' Istituto Storico Italiano, no. 71, Milan 1898. 91. John Bryan Ward-Perkins, Imperial Mausolea and Their Prossible Influence on Early Christian Central-Plan Buildings, in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, California 1966, pp. 297–299.

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92. Paolo Piva, Edilizia di culto cristiano a Milano, Aquileia e nell’Italia sttentrionale fra IV e VI secolo, in: Storia dell’architettura italiana: Da Constantino a Carlo Magno (ed. by Sible de Blaauw), 2010, pp. 98–145. 93. Hagith Sivan, Galla Placidia: The Last Roman Empress (Women in Antiquity), Oxford 2011. 94. Laudadeo Testi, La forma primitiva delle gallerie lombarde e Cappella di S. Aquilino nel S. Lorenzo Maggiore di Milano, Messina 1902. 95. Amédée Thierry, Histoire d’Attila et de ses successeur (2/2) jusqu’ à l'établissement des Hongrois en Europe, Paris 1856. 96. Mariëtte Verhoeven, The Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna. Transformed and Memory, Turnhout 2011. 97. Maeghan McEvoy, The Mausoleum of Honorius: late Roman imperial Christianity and the city of Rome in the fifth century, in: Old Saint Peter's, Rome (ed. by Rosamond McKitterick – John Osbourneed), Cambridge 2013, p. 121. 98. Michael Vickers, Observations on the Octagon at Thessaloniki, in: The Journal of Roman Studies, vol. 63, Cambridge 1973, pp. 111–120. 99. Kurt Weitzmann, Age of Spirituality. Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century, Exhibition at The MET Muesum of Art (catalogue), New York, (November, 1977). 100. Daniel H. Williams, Ambrose of Milan and the End of the Arian-Nicene Conflicts. Oxford 1995. 101. Joseph Wilpert, Die römischen Mosaiken der kirlichen Bauten vom IV– XIII. jahrhundert, Basel 1913. 102. Herwig Wolfram, History of the Goths, Berkley 1988, p. 151. 103. Boniface Ramsey, Ambrose. Early Church Fathers, London/New York 1997. 104. Salvatore Ruffulo, Le strutture murarie degli edifici paleocristiani milanesi, “rivista italiana di archeologia”, ns.17, 1970, pp. 49-52 105. Philip Schaff, Ambrose: Selected Works and Letters, Michigan 2004. 106. Erka Simon, The Ancient Theatre, London/ New York 1982. 107. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (ed. by William Smith, William Wayte and G. E. Marindin), London 1891, pp. 83–97. 108. Soprintendente Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Milano; Antonella Ranaldi, Il Progetto di Restauro della Cappella di Sant’Aquilino, Milano 2018, La conferenza stampa di presentazione del progetto si è tenuta LUNEDÌ 12 FEBBRAIO 2018 presso la Basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore ‐ Cappella Cittadini; look at: http://www.architettonicimilano.lombardia.beniculturali.it/?p=8036, 17- 02-2019. 109. Jean-Michel Spieser, The Representation of Christ in the Apses of Early Christian Churches, in: Gesta, vol. 37, no. 1, Chicago 1998, pp. 63–73.

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110. Ildefonso Schuster, Liber sacramentorum. Geschichtliche und liturgische Studien über das römische Meßbuch, Regensburg 1929–1932. 111. Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, Sant'Ambrogio e le più antiche basiliche milanesi, in: Note di archeologia cristiana. Vita e pensiero, Mailand 1940. 112. Svetlana P. Zaigrajkina, Mozaika “Christos s apostolami“ v kapelle Sankt Akvilino v Milane, in: Trudy Gosudarstvennogo Ermitaža, Sankt-Peterburg 2015, pp. 7–13.

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THE LIST OF IMAGES FIG. 1/ A ground plan of the San Lorenzo in Milan, the Chapel of Sant‘Aquilno is located on the north side of the edifice – p. 29

Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, s. 62.

FIG.2/ The exterior of the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Milan with the annexed chancel to the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino – p. 29

Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, p. 156-167.

FIG. 3/ The Chapel of Sant‘Aquilno in Milan, a dwarf gallery in exterior – p. 30

Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, p. 156-167.

FIG.4/ The vestibule of the Chapel of Sant‘Aquilino in Milan – p. 30

Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, p. 156-167. FIG. 5/ The vestibule of the Chapel of Sant‘Aquilno in Milan, two registers – p. 31 https://blog.urbanfile.org/2015/11/23/zona-porta-ticinese-santaquilino-col-nuovo- allestimento/

FIG.6/ The detail of the mosaic decoration in the vestibule of the Chapel of Sant‘Aquilino in Milan – p. 31

Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, p. 156-167.

FIG. 7/ The portal of the Chapel of Sant‘Aquilno in Milan – p. 31

Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, p. 156-167.

FIG.8/ The chapel‘s ground plan and the inner space – p. 31 https://blog.urbanfile.org/2015/11/23/zona-porta-ticinese-santaquilino-col-nuovo- allestimento/

FIG. 9/ The gallery of the Chapel of Sant‘Aquilno in Milan – p. 31 https://blog.urbanfile.org/2015/11/23/zona-porta-ticinese-santaquilino-col-nuovo- allestimento/

FIG.10/ The detail of the chapĺe‘s gallery – p. 31 https://blog.urbanfile.org/2015/11/23/zona-porta-ticinese-santaquilino-col-nuovo- allestimento/

FIG. 11/ The southewestern mosaic, the Christ between the Apostles – p. 32 https://blog.urbanfile.org/2015/11/23/zona-porta-ticinese-santaquilino-col-nuovo- allestimento/

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FIG.12/ The southeast mosaic, the Assumption of Elijah – p. 33 https://blog.urbanfile.org/2015/11/23/zona-porta-ticinese-santaquilino-col-nuovo- allestimento/

FIG. 13/ One of Sangallo‘s sketches, the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino – p. 34 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307704991_Conclusion_Ten_Principles_for_ the_Study_of_Proportional_Systems_in_the_History_of_Architecture/figures?lo=1&ut m_source=google&utm_medium=organic

FIG.14/ One of Sangallo‘s skteches, the ground plan of the Basilica of San Lorenzo – p. 35 https://blog.urbanfile.org/2015/11/23/zona-porta-ticinese-santaquilino-col-nuovo- allestimento/

FIG. 15/ Torre‘ drawing of the Basilica of San Lorenzo – p. 36

Carlo Torre–Federico Agnelli ac., Il ritratto di Milano: diviso in tre libri, Milano 1674, pp. 83–158.

FIG.16/ Teodolinda Sabaino Migliara, The interior of the Basilica of San Lorenzo a Milano, 1845, oil, 59,3x45 cm, Gallerie di Piazza Scala, Milano – p. 37 https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_di_San_Lorenzo_(Milano)#/media/File:Artgate_ Fondazione_Cariplo_- _Sabaino_Migliara_Teodolinda,_Interno_della_basilica_di_San_Lorenzo_a_Milano.jpg

FIG. 17/ The sketch of Ralph Symonds – p. 38

Ivan Foletti, Il trionfo della figura: Sant’Aquilino, San Vittore in Ciel d’oro a Milano e la retorica del V secolo, in: Medioevo, natura e figura, Milano 2015, s. 129–137.

FIG. 18/ The interior of the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino – p. 82

Giuseppe Bovini, I mosaici del S. Aquilino di Milano, in: Corso di Cultura sull’Arte Ravennate e Bizantina, Ravenna 1970, pp. 64–67. https://www.eguidexperience.com/?page=puntointeresse&poi_id=23&l g=eng

FIG. 19/ The Mausoleum of Maximian at San Vittore, a drawing from 1570 (Dutch artist), Stuttgart – p. 86

Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, p. 156-167.

FIG. 20/ Hagios Georgios in Thessaloniki – p. 86 http://tagdesignstudios.com/Teach/italhistfinal/Byzantine/Byzantine- Pages/Image9.html

FIG.21/ The construction of the Mausoleum of Diocletian at Split – p. 87 https://viagallica.com/croatie/lang_en/ville_split_-_palais_diocletien.htm FIG. 22/ The exterior of the Mausoleum of St. Costanza in Rome – p. 87 https://www.google.cz/search?biw=1536&bih=747&tbs=isz%3Al&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=V mQZXeCOO8OjwALEo6CwDQ&q=mausoleum+santa+costanza+exterior+&oq=mausol

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FIG. 23/ The interior of the Mausoleum of St. Costanza – p. 87 https://www.google.cz/search?biw=1536&bih=747&tbs=isz%3Al&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=V mQZXeCOO8OjwALEo6CwDQ&q=mausoleum+santa+costanza+exterior+&oq=mausol eum+santa+costanza+exterior+&gs_l=img.3...11027.12749..13162...0.0..0.97.808.9...... 0....1. .gws-wiz-img.2NGYSkqyoY4#imgrc=_

FIG. 24/ Hosios David Thessaloniki, Maiestas Domini – p. 90 https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/mosaics-in-the-medieval-world/mosaics-by- century/5683892CAF6B6CDD4F9B7B8D8310842B

FIG. 25/ The Basilica of St.Pudenziana, Maiestas Domini – p. 90 https://03varvara.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/unknown-artist-majestas-domini-christ- in-majesty-chiesa-di-santa-pudenziana-roma-italy-384/unknown-artist-majestas- domini-christ-in-majesty-chiesa-di-santa-pudenziana-roma-italy-384-2

FIG. 26/ The Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai in Egypt, Transiguration of Christ – p. 90 http://idlespeculations-terryprest.blogspot.com/2013/08/transfiguration-on-mount- sinai.html

FIG.27/ The Mausoleum of Santa Costanza in Rome, Traditio Legis – p. 90 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Santa_Costanza._Mosaic_del_S._VII_“Tradit io_Legis”.JPG

FIG. 28/ The Capsella di San Nazato, Traditio Legis – p. 90 https://blog.urbanfile.org/2018/01/05/milano-porta-romana-san-nazaro-brolo-strato- strato-1600-anni-storia/san-nazaro-in-brolo-capsella-argentea-4/

FIG.29/ The Catacombs of St. Domitilla in Rome, Christ between Apostles – p. 91 https://www.livescience.com/59424-paintings-of-christ-in-roman-catacombs.html

FIG. 30/ The necropolis under St. Peter‘s Church in Rome, Christus sa Helios – p. 92 https://www.alamy.com/english-ceiling-mosaic-christus-helios-the-mosaic-of-sol-in- mausoleum-m-which-is-interpreted-as-christ-sol-christ-as-the-sun-detail-of-vault- mosaic-in-the-mausoleum-of-the-julii-from-the-necropolis-under-st-peters-mid-3rd- century-grotte-vaticane-rome-mosaic-of-the-vatican-grottoes-under-st-peters-basilica- on-the-ceilinghtml

FIG.31/ A sarcophagus from the collection of the Museé de l’Arles – p. 92 http://iers.grial.eu/modules/introduction/christianityii/cris2index-4.html

FIG. 32/ The Hypogeum at Via Dino Compagni – p. 92 http://www.catacombsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/0276.jpg

FIG. 33/ A detail from the Chapel of Sant’Aquilino – p. 92

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Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, p. 156-167.

FIG. 34/ A detail from the Rotunda in Thessaloniki – p. 95

Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiquity, New York 2009, p. 76-87.

FIG. 35/ The ground plan of the Rotunda in Thessaloniki – p. 96

Mark J. Johnson, The Roman Imperial Mausoleum in Late Antiuity, New York 2009, p. 76–87.

FIG. 36/ The Catacombs of Commodilla in Rome, interior – p. 96 http://www.catacombeditalia.va/content/archeologiasacra/it/catacombe/regione/roma/ catacomba-di-commodilla.html

FIG. 37/ The ground plan of the Rotunda in Thessaloniki – p. 97 https://www.flickr.com/photos/edk7/7718892886

FIG. 38/ The type of mosaic in Pompeii – p. 97 https://fineartamerica.com/featured/2-nile-flora-and-fauna-roman-mosaic-sheila- terry.html

FIG. 39/ The cupola of Hagios Georgios in Thessaloniki – p. 98

Armin Bergmeier, Visionserwartung: Visualisierung und Präsenzerfahrung des Göttlichen in der Spätantike (Spätantike - Frühes Christentum - Byzanz/ Reihe B: Studien und Perspektiven), Wiesbaden 2017.

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