Battistero e Sudhalle

Facing Aquileia's basilica across Piazza Capitolo, the octagonal baptistery and southern hall preserve the architecture and mosaics of the city's early Christian complex. The Südhalle contains more than 300 square metres of late-fourth- and early-fifth-century mosaic pavement, displayed in a museum structure since 2011.

Why it matters

The baptistery's octagonal walls surround a hexagonal font, forming a setting for the rite of initiation in the early Christian community. Two halls flanked the baptistery; of these, the Südhalle remains substantially preserved. Its large mosaic pavement and relation to the baptistery reveal the scale and organisation of Aquileia's late antique ecclesiastical complex.

What to notice

The Südhalle pavement is arranged in three fields. The side sections use interlacing circles and spindles around geometric motifs, while the central field combines octagons, rhombuses and long panels containing animal figures. Medieval burials cut through parts of the mosaic. A fragment showing a peacock with its tail spread came from the apse of the narthex corridor connecting the hall to the basilica; gilding once covered the bird's eye-feathers. In early Christian art the peacock could symbolise immortality and resurrection.

Context and history

Austrian archaeologists discovered the two halls from 1893 and gave them the names Nordhalle and Südhalle. The pavement of the southern hall dates from the late fourth to early fifth century. The baptistery is attributed to Bishop Chromatius around the turn of the fifth century, while another account associates its construction with Patriarch Massenzio's early ninth-century works. These attributions preserve distinct interpretations of the complex's building phases; the surviving structure reflects its long history.