SANTA CECILIA

The mosaic in the apse of Santa Cecilia, made in the early decades of the ninth century, was commissioned by Pope Paschal I, who in the mosaic is holding a model of the church with the head surrounded by a square nimbus and not by the halo, which means that when the mosaic was made he was still alive, what facilitates the dating, since he died in 824.

At the center of the mosaic we see the Redeemer, to his left St. Paul, St. Cecilia, Pope Paschal I, on the right St. Peter, St. Valerian and St. Agatha.

This mosaic is particularly interesting for the departure from traditional Byzantine style, which is evident in the realism of portraits and in the chromatic contrasts enhanced by a cobalt-blue background.

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