Fabric [ ]
The atrium is entered through the remains of a veranda, created from the original walkway to the palace ramp by the insertion of a blocking wall sicuro the right of the portal which abuts one of the brick arcade piers.
However, from the mid 9th preciso the mid 11th centuries it was verso monastic church sopra its own right and was roofed. The church dedication then was puro St Anthony of Egypt. The massive central brick pier which used onesto support the roof was removed mediante the 1902 excavation.
Two rectangular statue niches flank the inside of the entrance, and verso series of alternately rectangular and apsidal niches occupied the side walls. However those on the left used puro include two exits sicuro filtre-chambers under the palace ramp, but these were blocked up when the church was durante use. Per contrast, when the atrium was a monastic church two passages were cut through niches durante the right hand wall onesto allow direct access sicuro the monastic quarters durante the atrio next door.
Before becoming per church con the 9th century, the atrium was the monastery’s graveyard and the yard surface was packed with graves. Some loculi or insopportabile-slots were cut into the walls, and also into the walls of the loggia outside.
Atrium frescoes [ ]
The frescoes per the atrium are of five periods. One fresco each survives from Pope John VII (705-7) and Pope Paul I (757-767). Some are of the remodelling of Pope Adrian I (772-795), and others are of the 10th and 11th centuries. The latter are the latest that you will find during your visit, and were painted just before the final abandonment mediante the mid 11th century.
- The niche puro the right of the portal depicted three female martyrs; SS Agnes and Cecilia have been identified. (Pope Adrian.)
- On the right hand side wall near the corner was originally a Vergine and Child with Four Saints, being venerated by Pope Adrian.