Medieval Mosaics

Naples, Baptistery of S Giovanni in Fonte (Cathedral of Sta Maria Assunta)

Era	5AD
Location	Via Duomo, 147, 80138 Napoli NA, Italy

In Naples, the Baptistery of S Giovanni in Fonte is a chapel inside the cathedral church of Sta Maria Assunta. It is associated with the Neapolitan bishop Severus (d. 409) and its mosaics are dated to somewhere in the late fourth century, perhaps even as late as 400.

The dome of S Giovanni contains New Testament scenes, symbolic Christian images such as the Traditio Legis, the Evangelists, shown through their symbols, scenes of shepherds with sheep and deer, a phoenix, and a Christogram set in a starry sky in the centre in the form of a Chi-Rho with an Alpha and an Omega hanging off it. The mosaics are reminiscent of mosaics from fifth- and sixth-century Ravenna.

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