The church of Santa Maria Antiqua, discovered in 1900 on the slopes of the Palatine, preserves on its walls a wealth of paintings, dating from the 6th to 9th centuries, when it was abandoned after its collapse in an earthquake in 847. It went through several decorative phases, as shown by the wall, where they are layered to form a “palimpsest”. On this large fragment, six layers of painting can be identified, ranging between the 4th-5th centuries and the 8th century CE.

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