- Title of Piece: Tipasa baptistery
- Date of Creation: Early Church
- Location: Timgad, Algeria
- Brief Description: The North African city of Tipasa was built on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea by the Phoenicians in what is now Algeria. It was made a Roman colony by the Emperor Claudius and eventually achieved the status of a city. It had considerable importance commercially. An inscription verifies the existence of the Christian Church at Tipasa to 238 C.E. Though it suffered persecution and had to stand against two Donatist bishops during the reign of Julian the Apostate (361-63), the Christian community remained faithful. During the 4th c. a young girl named Salsa was martyred in Tipasa by pagans. Later, a basilica was built in her honor. Remnants of this church and two others are part of the fragments that remain on the three hills that were once Tipasa.
The square stone baptistery pictured here inscribes a circular font.
- Photographer Info: Rev. Paul Cioffi, SJ
- Title of Piece: Timgad Christian baptismal font, scale
- Date of Creation: Early Church
- Location: Timgad, Algeria
- Brief Description: The city of Timgad (Thamugadi) was founded in 100 C.E. by the Roman Emperor Trajan as a military colony for retired personnel. It was built in the Aures Mountains of North Africa, near the present-day Batna, Algeria. The city, laid out in a characteristically Roman grid pattern within a square and built of stone and masonry in the Corinthian style, quickly spilled into more haphazardly built suburbs. The well planned city center included a large forum and open-air theater, a library, four public baths and a temple. But the city suffered invasions by the Vandals and the Berbers; after the 7th C. it was never rebuilt. It was excavated in 1881.
Timgad's Christian heritage dates from the 3rd c., and from the 4th c. Timgad was also a center for Donatists. The Donatist cathedral baptistery has a hexagonal, 3-step immersion baptismal font richly decorated with mosaics. The Christian Church, situated near the city library and the house of Januarius, has a stone baptismal font much smaller in diameter than the Donatist one, and it is circular in shape. It, too, has three steps and was designed for immersion. The column remnants visible in this image suggest the font was covered by a stone canopy called a baldochin or ciborium.
- Photographer Info: Rev. Paul Cioffi, SJ
- Title of Piece: Djemila baptistery font floor mosaics
- Date of Creation: 4th Century
- Location: Djemila, Algeria
- Brief Description: Djemila is the modern name for ancient Cuicul, a Roman military garrison in the mountains of North Africa, founded in the first century, C.E. Cuicul was abandoned in the 5th C. In 1909 excavations began that have revealed one of the best-preserved Roman sites in North Africa, abundant with mosaics and artifacts that have largely been kept at Djemila. Among its remains are the Christian basilica and baptistery which date from the 4th c.
The mosaics, which cover the entire floor of the baptistery, are original. The outer ambulatory floor is decorated with a geometric pattern. The inner ambulatory mosaics depict all types of sea creatures: fish of various sorts, octopus and crab-like creatures. The focal point of all this sea life is a large chalice. The mosaic on the floor of the font (shown in this image) depicts four fish surrounding a central symbol of Christ. Christ is symbolized with the 'footed' cross known as the fylfot cross or tetraskelion or swastika. The feet, like sunrays, are meant to convey radiant energy and vibrancy.
- Photographer Info: Rev. Paul Cioffi, SJ
- Title of Piece: Novara Cathedral, choir pavement mosaic, detail
- Date of Creation: 1125
- Location: Novara, Italy
- Brief Description: Novara is located in the Piedmont region of Italy, about 40 km west of Milan. The mosaic pavement in the choir of Novara's cathedral dates from about 1125 and has been restored. The entire mosaic design is a square with five circles inscribed within it. The central circle (shown here) depicts the Fall of Adam and Eve. It is surrounded by four circles inscribed within the corners of the square. These contain representations of the four rivers of Paradise in human form. The name of each figure is written above its image. The mosaic is rendered chiefly in black and white tesserae.
- Photographer Info: Rev. Paul Cioffi, SJ
- Title of Piece: Dijon Well of Moses, detail
- Date of Creation: ca. 1395-1406
- Location: The Chartreuse (Charterhouse) de Champmol, Dijon, France
- Brief Description: This image illustrates two facets of a hexagonal, polychromed and gilded stone pedestal, 183 cm high. Figures of Moses, David, Jeremiah, Zechariah, Daniel and Isaiah occupy its six niches. Each seer holds an unfurled scroll inscribed with his prophesy foretelling the death of Christ. (Isaiah, left, and Daniel, right, are shown here.) Originally, this pedestal was the middle portion of a fountain. It supported a large crucifixion group and had a baptismal font below it. The Chartreuse de Champmol, a Carthusian monastery once patronized by Philip the Bold of Burgundy (1342-1404), was largely destroyed during the French Revolution.
- Artist Info: Claus Sluter (the Netherlands, ca. 1350-1406)
- Photographer Info: Rev. Paul Cioffi, SJ
- Title of Piece: Liège cast bronze baptismal font, detail
- Date of Creation: ca. 1107-1118
- Location: Liège, Belgium
- Brief Description: This image shows the basin of a bronze baptismal font, 64cm high, and details the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist, the central scene (of five) depicted around its circumference. The basin is supported by bronze oxen arranged around a circular, tiered, stone pedestal. (Originally there were 12 oxen, 10 survive. They evoke 1Kings 7.25 that describes 12 oxen supporting the ‘molten sea’ in Solomon’s Temple.) Sometime between 1107 and 1118, archdeacon Hellion donated this baptismal font to his church, Notre-Dame-aux-Fonts (the baptistery of Liège), which stood adjacent to the cathedral, Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Lambert. Both buildings were destroyed after the French Revolution of 1789. The font was rescued and kept hidden until after the Concordat in 1804. At that time, what remained of the font was placed in the collegiate church of St. Barthélemy, where it remains in use today. (Two oxen and the basin’s lid portraying prophets and apostles were lost.)
This masterpiece of lost wax casting is usually attributed to the Netherlandish goldsmith Renier de Huy (active 1107-1144).
The five scenes ringing the font are: 1) John the Baptist preaching to merchants and soldiers, 2) John the Baptist giving the baptism of repentance while he urges his disciples to look for the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit, 3) the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist with God the Father (hand descending from the clouds) proclaiming Jesus the beloved Son and the Holy Spirit (dove) resting on him, 4) Peter baptizing Cornelius the Roman centurion, 5) John the Evangelist baptizing the Greek philosopher Crato at Ephesus.
- Artist Info: Renier de Huy (the Netherlands, fl. 12th c.)
- Title of Piece: Bourges Cathedral of St. Étienne, exterior choir & apse
- Date of Creation: 1195-1270 entire church; 1214 choir & apse
- Location: Bourges, France
- Brief Description: The Cathedral of St. Étienne, located about 200 km south of Paris in Bourges, France, is considered, along with Chartres, the first of the ‘high gothic’ cathedrals because they began stretching the height of the building, expanding the glass to stone ratio of the walls and designing the interior space into an increasingly unified, flowing plan. The Bourges cathedral was begun in 1195 (about the same time as the Chartres cathedral). Its choir was completed in 1214. The nave was finished about 1250 and the west façade in 1270.
Designed without a transept, St. Étienne has double side aisles and a double ambulatory surrounding the central nave and choir in horseshoe fashion. Moving inward, each of these spaces rises to a greater height (outer aisle: 9.3m, inner aisle: 21.3m; nave: 35m high x 15m wide). This gives the structure a pyramidal shape beneath its flying buttresses. These exterior buttresses—an engineering technique introduced around 1180—carry most of the weight of the building. It was this external support system that allowed architects to dissolve heavy stone walls into curtains of light.
Among the individuals associated with this enormous building project are Philippe Berruyer, archbishop of Bourges from 1236-1260, and architects Paul-Louis Boeswillwald and Guillaume de Pelvoysin.
- Architect Info: Paul-Louis Boeswillwald and Guillaume de Pelvoysin.
- Photographer Info: Rev. Paul Cioffi, SJ
- Title of Piece: Autun Saint-Lazare tympanum & trumeau, west portal
- Date of Creation: Between 1130 and 1135; 19th C.reconstruction
- Location: Autun (Burgundy), France
- Brief Description: Though consecrated in 1130 to house the relics of St. Lazarus and to serve as a pilgrimage site for lepers seeking the intercession of their patron,construction of the Romanesque church of Saint-Lazare in Autun spanned the years between 1120 and 1146, approximately. Its entire program of stone carvings was carried out by a sculptor named Gislebertus (France, fl. 1100-1150). The Last Judgment scene for the main portal was carved between 1130 and 1135. Cut from limestone, it measures 6.4m wide at its base. Although Romanesque churches frequently incorporated a scene depicting the Last Judgment on the west portal—inside or out—to remind worshipers of this eternally decisive future moment, the tympanum above Saint-Lazare’s main entrance is notable from the artist-as-creator point of view. The representation of Christ in glory at the center of the composition, flanked by the weighing of souls—damned on Christ’s left, elect on Christ’s right—is typical. However, Gislebertus has incorporated inscriptions around the figures that emphasize judgment for good or ill as a direct consequence of how the soul chose to live out his or her life on earth. In this context, it is striking that Gislebertus chiseled “Gislebertus hoc fecit” (Gislebertus made this) directly under the feet of Christ. Though artisan signatures were not unprecedented at this time, the placement of Gislebertus’ name above the front door of the church is quite bold—or exceedingly humble. In effect, while announcing to all comers that he, Gislebertus, and none other had made the images for Saint-Lazare, he laid his work at the feet of Christ and left it suspended in the balance, awaiting the judgment—not of colleagues and art critics—but of his maker.
During the 18th C. the Last Judgment scene was judged to reflect a superstitious spirituality and plastered over. It was rediscovered and restored during the 19th C.
The three stone figures on the trumeau between the doors represent Lazarus (center) flanked by his sisters Martha and Mary. Unlike the tympanum, the original trumeau carving was lost; what exists now is a 19th C. creation that cannot be verified as replicating the original.
- Artist Info: Gislebertus (France, fl. 1100-1150)
- Photographer Info: Rev. Paul Cioffi, SJ
- Title of Piece: Sbeïtla Saint Vitalis baptismal font
- Date of Creation: 6th Century
- Location: Sbeïtla, Tunisia
- Brief Description: Located in the Kasserine governorate of Tunisia, Sbeïtla is rich with remnants of cultures dating to Punic times. Though little is known of the settlement's history, archeological evidence shows that a Byzantine military outpost was built on the site of Roman town. Close to the remains of a Capitoline Temple are remnants of two early Christian ecclesial buildings (4th/5th C.). Nearby is the site of the Byzantine church of Saint Vitalis, built in the 6th C. Although the basilica is largely gone, its baptismal font, with magnificent mosaic decorations, has survived. The baptistery was a separate space adjoined to the main church, located directly behind the apse. The font is an unusual labial shape with two sets of four steps at either end. Four extant circular stone bases set in a square on the wide rim suggest that a canopy or ciborium supported by columns once covered the basin of the font. The rich mosaic decoration includes a geometric pattern, a flower and vine design, crosses and, on the floor of the font basin, a Latin cross whose top arm curls into the Greek letter rho with alpha and omega inscribed under the horizontal arms of the cross. An inscription, written large, underlined letters on the ledge of the font, is a reference to the votive offering of the one(s) who probably donated money for the baptistery. It reads: Vitalis / Et Carde / La Votu / MSN.
- Photographer Info: Rev. Paul Cioffi, SJ
- Title of Piece: Grado Basilica of Sant' Eufemia, interior
- Date of Creation: 6th Century with later modifications
- Location: Grado, Italy
- Brief Description: Grado is a small, ancient town in northeastern Italy, situated between Venice and Trieste on a peninsula bordered by the Adriatic Sea. In the fifth century, when Huns swept from the east to invade the Roman Empire and assaulted Aquileia, just to the north, Grado became a refuge. After Aquileia was again invaded and destroyed in 590, this time by Lombards, the patriarchate of Aquileia was transferred to Grado. Two of Grado’s churches, Santa Maria delle Grazie and the Basilica of Sant’ Eufemia (the town’s cathedral or duomo), along with its free-standing baptistery, trace their histories to this period of early Christianity. (In 1450, that the patriarchate was transferred to Venice.)
Pictured here is the interior of Sant’ Eufemia. Built on the foundations of a hall church dating from the 4th or 5th century, the present structure, reminiscent of ecclesial architecture in imperial Ravenna, was consecrated in 579 by the Patriarch Elias. This photograph captures the 6th C. construction as well as later rejuvenations that give evidence of Sant’ Eufemia’s vitality as a worship space over hundreds of years. Notice, for example, the 6th century apse with its three arched windows (very like those in the apse at Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, late 5th-early 6th c.); the 6th C. paving in the nave, restored in 1948; the carved stone panels enclosing the chancel, also dating from the 6th C., though they have been moved from their original locations and designed into the present screen; the Romanesque-Gothic ambo (12-14th c); the 14th century apse fresco of Christ in glory and the Venetian gilt silver altarpiece (1372) behind the high altar.
- Photographer Info: Rev. Paul Cioffi, SJ