Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TOP SIGHT
BASILICA DI SAN PAOLO FUORI LE MURA
The world's third-largest church and the biggest in Rome after St Peter's, the magnificent, little-visited basilica of
St Paul's stands on the site where St Paul was buried after being decapitated in AD 67. Built by Constantine in the
4th century, it was largely destroyed by fire in 1823; much of what you see today is a 19th-century reconstruction.
Not everything was decimated in the fire, however; many treasures survived, including the 5th-century triumphal
arch, with its heavily restored mosaics, and the Gothic marble tabernacle over the high altar. Arnolfo di Cambio de-
signed this around 1285, together with another artist, possibly Pietro Cavallini.
Doom-mongers should check out the papal portraits beneath the nave windows. Every pope since St Peter is rep-
resented and legend has it that when there is no room for the next portrait, the world will fall.
The stunning 13th-century Cosmati mosaic work in the
cloisters
MAP
of the adjacent Benedictine abbey also
survived the 1823 fire.
DON'T MISS…
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5th-century triumphal arch and mosaics
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Papal portraits
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Cloister
PRACTICALITIES
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MAP
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Via Ostiense 190
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cloisters €4
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7am-6.30pm
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San Paolo
