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In the pavement is still preserved a great deal of that laid down by Elias in the sixth century. It filled the nave, being entirely worked in tesserae of very few colours--black, a green-grey, red, yellow, and white. From the west door a pattern, surrounded by a border, stretches as far as the fifth pair of columns. It consists of a central band of a wavy pattern, interrupted by inscriptions and medallions; the easternmost one is blank and has a running border, with the corners of the square (cut off by the band of inscriptions) filled with scroll-work. The side portions are cut up into squares by bands of open interlacings, with ivy leaves in the interstices, and different designs within the squares, or with inscriptions, most of them in Latin, but one in Greek. They record the gift of so many feet of pavement, as at Parenzo; and one donor, Laurentius the Viscount Palatine, seems to have been generous to both cathedrals. A long inscription leaves no doubt as to the date, and that it was laid down under the Patriarch Elias (571-585); it runs: "Atria quae cernis vario formata decore squallida sub picto caelatur marmore tellus longa vetustatis senio fuscaverat aetas prisca en cesserunt magno novitatis honori praesulis Haeliae studio praestante beati haec sunt tecta pio semper devota timori."
The flat ceilings and the rococo stucco-work are due to the restorations of 1740. The apse contains remains of mediaeval painting--a seated Christ of colossal size surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists, with raised right hand and a closed book in the left; on one side S. John the Baptist holding an open scroll, and on the other a saint in green, with gold-shot stole and nimbus, but no attribute--both larger than life. The corners are occupied by the patron saints, Hermagoras and Fortunatus.
Round the apse, just above the patriarch"s seat, runs a row of portraits of bishops of later date, half-lengths, beneath a round-arched arcade on a gold ground. On the left nave pier, near the door, are the remains of a painting of S. Helena, who has nimbus, cross, and book. In the centre of the apse is the ancient patriarch"s seat, with an inscription upon the wall commemorating the ancient supremacy of the see: it is mainly composed of mutilated ninth-century carved slabs, probably portions of the chancel of that date. Other slabs with similar designs and portions of a ciborium are preserved in a little collection of marbles under a shed behind the apse, where are also several sarcophagi and other antique fragments.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PATRIARCH"S THRONE. CATHEDRAL, GRADO
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In the treasury are two early reliquaries of silver, found beneath the high-altar in August, 1871. One is cylindrical, with a convex lid, upon which is represented in relief the Virgin enthroned, with the Babe at her breast. Her right hand holds a cross-headed sceptre, and behind her head is a nimbus with the usual monogram, MM? TT. The cylinder has no decoration but two bands of names of saints in Roman capital letters. These are: "Sanc. Maria, Sanc. Vitvs, Scs. Ca.s.sianvs, Sanc. Pancrativs, Sanc. Ypolitvs, Sanc. Apollinaris, Sanc. Martinvs."
Within is a central cylinder and six compartments radiating from it, which contained a small cylindrical vase of gold with rings round it, a little gla.s.s flask, closed up and containing water, a little gold box with crosses and a leaf pattern on the outside, and a cross of dark-green enamel on the cover, a small slab of chalk or cement with a Greek cross imprinted on it, and several thin gold plates with the names of saints upon them. Several of the printed accounts of the discovery of this treasure say that there were six of these plates in the casket; but the gla.s.s case which encloses it and its contents has eleven, with the names as follows: "Domna Maria, Scs. Ca.s.sianvs, Sc. Martinvs, Sc.
Brancativs, Scs. Troteomvs, Sca. Agnes, Scs. Bitvs, Scs. Apolinnaris, Scs. Hyppolitvs, Scs. Sabastianvs, Scs. Severvs." Dr. Kandler thought that it came from the church of S. Niceta in Aquileia, and was brought to the island with other treasures in 452, for safety, from Attila. De Rossi thought that the appellative "Domna" distinguishing the Virgin was an argument against such high antiquity; but in a later number of his "Bullettino" he described an inscription of about 457 at Loja, in Spain, in which the t.i.tle "Domnus" or "Domna" is applied to all the saints, including the Virgin. There is a legend that "When Paul was patriarch of Aquileia the priest Geminia.n.u.s was told in a vision to go to the destroyed city of Trieste to find the bodies of 42 martyrs buried between the wall of the church dedicated to them and the city wall.
Going thither with many other Venetians he found the holy bodies in the specified place, covered over with marble slabs, and, taking them, went to the destroyed city of Aquileia, where he added to the relics the bodies of Cantius, Cantia.n.u.s, Cantianilla, and the virgins Euphemia, Dorothea, Thecla, and Erasma, and then took them all to Grado." Paul is Paulinus I. (557-569), and the occurrence took place after the Lombards had gone by in 568. The forty-two martyrs were laid side by side in the church of S. Vitale, and Paul died the next year.
The other reliquary is elliptical, and has upon its sides reliefs and inscriptions bordered with a rough leaf-moulding. Round the middle are eight medallions with male and female heads, divided into two groups of five and three by palm-trees. Above and below is a row of names; those of the top row being: "[Symbol: cross] Sanctvs Cantivs, Sanc. Cantianvs, Sancta Cantianilla, Santvs Qvirinvs, Santvs Latinv." The lower row runs: "[Symbol: cross] S. Lavrentivs, vs loannes, vs Niceforvs Santisreddedidbotvm" (vir spectabilis, &c., reddidit votum). The use of b for v is characteristic of the period of the Patriarch Elias. The cover is slightly domical; upon it are two lambs, and between them a gemmed cross. They stand on a hill from which the four rivers of Paradise flow. Within was a second silver casket filled with water, and some remains of relics. At Pola some reliquaries of somewhat the same kind were found, of which a description will be given later.
In the Museo Sacro of the Vatican library is a similar capsella found at An Beida in Tunisia. It is oval, and has the same bands of ornament; round the body are reliefs. On one side is a lamb with a cross above his back, and on either side four sheep (with tufted tails, a Tunisian variety) coming towards him from an arched and pillared building. On the other is the Labarum monogram with ornamental terminations on a hill from which the four Paradise streams flow; a stag on either side kneels to drink. On the cover stands a saint, on the four Paradise streams, between two lighted tapers in candlesticks, holding a crown; whilst the hand of G.o.d holds another over his head. There are no nimbi. The reliquary was empty and without any compartments. De Rossi p.r.o.nounced it to be of the sixth century, or the end of the fifth.
The treasury also contains an oblong fourteenth-century casket and two Limoges _gemellions_, as well as a good deal of late silver work, and an interesting altar frontal. The _gemellions_ are champleve on copper, with engraved backs showing traces of gilding. A central circle on the face contains a shield with a rampant lion, enamelled in blue; round it is a quatrefoil made by four larger circles which overlap at the reentering angle. The spandril s.p.a.ces are filled with dragon-like monsters on a green ground. The ring and the shield show metal. The quatrefoil is outlined with white, and filled with scrolls and figures fighting with each other or with beasts. The corner pieces have a little tower and scrolls, the windows and cornice are red enamel, the ground is green. The outside edge has a zigzag of blue enamel. The hole through which the water was poured over the hands has a spout representing an animal"s head. I believe these basins to be the only examples of Limoges work to be found along the coast.
The altar-frontal is inscribed: "[Symbol: cross]MCCCLXII de Settembrio in lo tempo del n.o.bele Miser Andrea Contarini Doxe di Vanesia e Miser Francesco Contarini Conte de" Grado fo fatta questa palla e Donado Macalorso da Vinesia me fece." It is of silver-gilt, 4 ft. 7 in. high and 7 ft. 4 in. long, with twenty-one divisions, in three rows of seven panels, the bars being covered with leaf scrolls and with medallion half-lengths of Greek saints at the crossings. In the upper row, in the middle panel, is a half-length "Ecce h.o.m.o," right and left are the symbols of the Evangelists, and the outer corners have the Annunciation--the Virgin on the right, and the angel on the left. In the centre of the second row Christ sits in the att.i.tude of blessing, with raised right hand, and holding an open book in the left. On its pages is inscribed: "Ego sum lux mundi qui in me crediderit non morietur in aeternum Amen." On the right are SS. John, Paul, and Fortunatus; on the left, SS. Felix, Peter, and Martha. In the lowest row the centre shows a chalice with the Host; on the right, SS. Hermagoras, Thecla, and Erasma; on the left, SS. Dorothea, Euphemia, and another Fortunatus.
The patriarchal seat given by Heraclius to the Patriarch Primigenius was taken in 1520 to S. Mark"s, Venice, where it may still be seen in the treasury. Pasini says it is certainly of Egyptian manufacture, in proof of which both the character of the ornaments and tradition are invoked.
The Chronicles of the Acts of S. Mark in Aquileia, which are earlier than the eleventh century, say that it was covered with ivory plaques, "utique antiquo," but the large amount of carving upon it leaves little s.p.a.ce for the attachment of further ornament. Its history seems quite clear. Heraclius brought it from Alexandria to Constantinople about 630, and between 1520 and 1534 it was behind the high-altar of S. Mark"s. In the latter year it was moved into the baptistery on to the altar, where it stayed till taken into the treasury.
It is made of Oriental cipollino. The medallion at the top is cemented on. On it is a crux ansata, with two figures at the sides, both in front and behind, believed to be the four Evangelists. On the exterior of the arms are ten lighted tapers, thought to symbolise the ten churches founded in Africa by SS. Matthew and Mark. Below the medallion in front is a Lamb on a hill, from which the rivers of Paradise flow, and on which is either a vine or a fig-tree. On the back are an eagle and a lion, each with six wings. The background is starred, there are two palms at the bottom, and a Tree of Life in the s.p.a.ce between the lion"s lower wings. Above the eagle"s head is a crescent. Beneath the tapers on the outside is a bull with six wings on a starred background, and on the other side an angel, also with six wings, with two palms below, and two little two-winged trumpeting angels in the top corners, on a similarly starred ground. These three sides have a band of lattice-work at the base; the front has a panel with zigzag lines. The inscription on the front has puzzled paleographists. It has been read as Hebrew and as stating that it is the chair of S. Mark. A hole in the back and another in the side are thought to have perhaps held the debris of the wooden chair which he actually used.
Herr Graeven believes that he has identified several plaques of ivory which belonged to the chair in different museums. They all display the type of head afterwards used for S. Paul in Western art, which Dr.
Strzygowski has identified as representing S. Mark in Alexandrian ivories.
The octagonal baptistery, to the north of the cathedral, shows no sign of its age, which must no doubt be considerable; near to it is the church of S. Maria delle Grazie, which has fragments of similar paving to that in the cathedral, including the inscriptions. In the floor in front of the altar are also several pieces of ninth-century ciborium heads, and bits of twelfth-century carving. It is possible that the baptistery once had a canopy such as still exists at Cividale, and that the fragments here and at the cathedral formed part of it. The nave has six bays, with five antique columns on each side, of cipollino, granite, white and black, and white-veined marble. The caps are very varied. Some are Byzantine of the type of those at S. Apollinare in Cla.s.se; two are truncated reversed pyramids with roughly cut scrolls on the surface, and one of these has a super-abacus. Two of them are queer, rough things, with brackets at the angles in place of volutes, and a deep abacus sloping back, with a cross upon it. The bases of the pillars are boxed in, as at the cathedral. An antique base serves as support to the holy-water basin. The floor has been mended with slabs of red and white marble and tiles, and the mosaic goes on into the rooms which flank the apse, at the ends of the aisles. This arrangement of the plan is exactly the same as that in a church at Kanytelides not far from Tarsus, the plan of which Miss Lowthian Bell gives in her book on Cilicia and Lycaonia; it also occurs in the church of Bir-Umm-Ali in Tunisia. De Vogue gives two plans closely resembling it, and Mr. H.C. Butler describes some very similar plans near Is-Sanemen in the Northern Hauran (the ancient aere), which are probably Constantinian. It seems certain that it is an Oriental importation, especially in connection with the fact that the free-standing apse, as in the earlier church at Parenzo and at Salona, occurs quite frequently in Cilicia and Lycaonia, as Miss Lowthian Bell shows.
Between Grado and Aquileia is a little island with a celebrated church, S. Maria di Barbana. In the early centuries of the Christian era legend says that a picture of the Virgin floated hither on a springtide, and was caught in the branches of a little tree, which lived till the middle of the nineteenth century when a great storm destroyed it. The picture and the church which contains it are the object of an annual pilgrimage on the Feast of the a.s.sumption; people from all around accompany a sacred picture from Grado to visit it. On this day the lagoon is alive with numberless craft, the priests" boat leading, with banners and tapers and fully vested ecclesiastics; and the air resounds with simple church melodies. At Barbana the Virgin"s picture waits on the pier to greet that from Grado; and report says that it has been observed to nod at the moment the sister picture reached the sh.o.r.e!
V
GRADO TO TRIESTE
There is a small steamer which plies from Grado to Trieste, going one day and returning the next, but fine weather is very necessary for that mode of travel, as the sea can be very rough between Venice and Trieste.
We did not hit the day of its sailing, so retraced our steps to Villa Vicentina and went _via_ Monfalcone and Nabresina. Between these two places the railway rises steadily, giving fine views over the sea and plain. Looking forward and back the pale-grey line of the viaducts winds round and about the slopes like some gigantic snake, or like the aqueducts of the Campagna of Rome. Here the grey limestone breaks through the vegetation more and more, for the line is approaching the lofty stony plateau of the Karst, and enormous heaps of debris accentuate the position of the numerous quarries. They are very extensive, going far into the rock, which is also pierced by many great hollows, like entrances to an unknown under-world. All over Istria these memorials of sunken river channels occur--a maze of holes and paths, in which the water is still sinking deeper through the porous stone as through a sieve. Curious funnel-shaped depressions often occur amid uniform slopes, several hundred feet across and sometimes 200 ft. deep, as if worn by ancient whirlpools, and many of the rivers become subterranean, sometimes coming to the surface again many miles away.
The river Rjeka, for instance, enters into the grottoes of S. Canzian, near Divaca--a succession of narrow abysses, hollows, pits, waterfalls, and stalact.i.te grottoes, with pools in them; and other examples will be noted farther down the coast.
The Castle of Duino has been called "The pearl of the Coastlands." It stands finely upon its rock, just where the diluvial plain meets the lime or sandstone formation. In a couple of hundred paces or so the vegetation changes its character from that of upper Italy to the softness of the southern islands, the sheltered slope to the sea being like an evergreen garden. Aloes root in the rocks as at Sorrento, and even in winter the purple cyclamen may be found in flower. Its name in antiquity was Castrum Pucinum. Here Augustus had a villa, whence the best wine for his table was brought. From the line, too, the campanili of Grado and Aquileia are visible, far away over the plain, dark against lagoon or sky in the evening, or flashing white in the morning sun.
At Monfalcone we took corner seats in an unoccupied carriage, but while we were arranging our things an old man, rather infirm, got in and made me to understand that he wanted mine. German was the language which he spoke. I thought perhaps I was intruding, though there was nothing on the seat to show that it was taken, so gave it up. We had two nice youths, who were talking Italian, at the other end of the compartment, cadets of some kind in uniform, going home for the Easter holidays. The old man was very short-sighted and gazed at the landscape through a little telescope. When we left Nabresina and went the other way to run down to Trieste, the views changed to the other side of the carriage, and to my astonishment the selfish old fellow moved across and turned one of the youths out of his place! to which he submitted quite meekly.
The descent from the high land to the coast level is very fine, the eye ranging far over the blue water, headland projecting beyond headland, paler and more diaphanous, till the historic point of Salvore fades into the distance scarcely distinguishable. Below the blue is stained by the smoke of steamers and flecked with the many-coloured sails of other craft, while in the middle-distance populous Trieste stretches round the curve of the bay, with many vessels at its wharves, and the smoke from the Lloyd-a.r.s.enal mingling with that from the iron-works at Muggia beyond S. Servolo across the bay; or, if it should be night, lines of lights define the long stretch of quays and streets like strings of pearls, and sparkle up the heights which the houses climb in several directions. Prosecco is pa.s.sed, which gives its name to a celebrated wine much esteemed in Trieste; Miramar, with its memories of the ill-fated Maximilian of Mexico, who delighted in its beautiful situation and splendour of appointment; then comes Barcola, where excavations have proved the existence of Roman villas, which have enriched the museum of Trieste with many interesting objects; and at last the train slackens and stops at the west end of the town, in the fine station built with that disregard for economy of s.p.a.ce and lavish expenditure of material which the Englishman finds remarkable in Continental railway management.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SHIPPING AT TRIESTE: THE Ca.n.a.l, WITH THE GREEK CHURCH AND SANT" ANTONIO
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Trieste is primarily a modern town, and the people are very proud of the important buildings which adorn it, as they have every right to be. The post office, for instance, is palatial, and round and near to the Piazza Grande are large and showy edifices which include the Town Hall and the Lloyd Palace, while the Greek church is a fine building in the Byzantine style, decorated with mosaics, and the church of Sant" Antonio makes a very effective termination to the Ca.n.a.le Grande. The broad quays are thronged with people of many nationalities and varied costumes, from the ships which lie along them flaunting ensigns of all kinds--red and white crosses, blue, yellow, and black stripes, moons and stars--Italian, Norwegian, Greek, Turkish, French, and Montenegrin, as well as Istrian and Dalmatian. The Greek ships generally lie in the Ca.n.a.l, the Norwegian by the Molo S. Carlo (so called from a warship which was sunk in 1737), and beyond the health office for the port at the Molo Giuseppino, where many others also lie, and the various pa.s.senger steamers in definite berths--the big English steamers at the end of the projecting quays.
From a Sicilian ship hundreds of chests of oranges and lemons may be seen unloading; from a Venetian _trabarcolo_ great heaps of onions and ropes of garlic; an Istrian boat disgorges a small mountain of green water-melons; from a Dalmatian cutter barrel after barrel of wine is rolled out, much of which goes on to Bordeaux (!); and the same from a Greek schooner near, while its neighbour from the Levant lands grapes and chests of raisins, and the Norwegian ship brings train oil or wood.
Many Turkish and Albanian costumes lighten up the crowd with their brilliant colours and quaint shapes, Bosniaks and Montenegrins are occasionally seen, and a fair number of Morlacchi, though fewer than lower down the coast. The weather-beaten Chioggian fishermen, too, with their red caps and waist-scarves, black curly hair and great rings in their ears, are very picturesque, though less unusual. The Triestines themselves are abandoning the old costume of the countryman, the "mandriere," described as consisting of a long waistcoat with great silver b.u.t.tons hanging on it, short black hose open at the knee, and a short black, close-fitting jacket. In summer he wore a broad, flapping hat; in winter a costly cap of so-called beaver-skin, which he had probably inherited from his grandfather. The women had broad frocks with coloured borders, and a short, heavy cloth jacket; and on their heads a white linen cloth hanging down behind, with costly lace upon it. The girl of the people, the "sessolotta," and the seamstress, the "sartorella," both go bareheaded, and are proud of their hair; they are fond of flowers and songs, and spend much of their time in the open air.
I quote a Gradese song, which is also sung at Trieste, and must be of some antiquity, since it names the gondola, which is not now seen either at Grado or Trieste.
Lisetta guarda, bella e la luna Argento piove sulla laguna, Non e una nuvola; quieto e il mar-- Lisetta, in gondola ti voi menar?
La bavisella che va soffiando Con quel bel viso di quando in quando I biondi boccoli te li fa far-- Lisetta, in gondola ti voi menar?
The markets are rich with colour and well looked after. Officials go round constantly testing the articles of food sold, while the women (who are generally the sellers) look on with anxiety. A dozen or more, men and women, will bring in their wares on a cart, 10 or 15 ft. long, each putting a hand to the work.
The city existed in antiquity. Strabo knew it as a Carnian market-town.
Various derivations of the Latin name "Tergeste" have been suggested, of which perhaps the most probable is from the Celtic "twr," water or sea, and "geste," colony, establishment. The fact that it was the only city held by the Carni on the sea-coast increases the probability. A Roman colony was established here in 129 B.C. The amount of tribute paid by the various cities is an index of their importance; both Pola and Parenzo paid more than Trieste. The Triestines were enrolled in the tribe Pupinia. The city was the landing-place for Roman troops, as was the case in Trajan"s campaign against the Dacians. The fulling establishments of both Trieste and Pola were known far and wide.
The Romans made the hill of S. Giusto the centre of their colony, adding to the defensive works the temple of the Capitoline divinities, reconstructed with a magnificence worthy of the increased importance of the city by Clodius Quirinale, prefect of the fleet of Ravenna. Remains of it are the seven columns within the campanile (built in 1337 and restored in 1556), still bearing architrave, frieze, and cornice, and fragments of architectural carving and inscriptions encrusted in its walls, or preserved in the civic Museo Lapidario. There was an antique theatre at Trieste also; its shape only can be traced, though the name of the street is still "Rena Vecchia."
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL, TRIESTE]
S. Hermagoras is said to have planted a church here about 50 A.D., by means of missionaries sent from Aquileia. S. Giusto, one of the patron saints of the city, probably died about 303. The other two are S.
Sergio, a soldier, whose halberd still appears in the arms of the town, and S. Servolo, a pious youth who lived at one time in a grotto not far from this place, where they both were martyred. There is said to have been a bishop in the fourth century, but the list of authentic bishops begins with Frugiferus in the sixth. When Christianity triumphed, a church was built on the Capitol on the ruins of the ancient temple of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, dedicated to the Virgin of the a.s.sumption.
This was the part to the north of the present church (see plan), now the nave of the Holy Sacrament, "del Santissimo," in the apse of which are the mosaics of the twelve Apostles, probably earlier than the sixth century; while those in the vault, together with the border, are later.
Till some twenty years ago a difference in the level of the floor between the three columns farthest east on each side (where the pulpit stands) marked the place of the original choir. The walled-up clerestory windows of the right side are ancient. The fourteen columns have been plastered over to make them uniform, but are evidently of different thicknesses, suggesting the use of older material. The caps are for the most part rough imitations of Corinthian, and the bases are stilted Attic in type. Of the baptistery nothing remains but the hexagonal font of marble in the chapel of S. John the Baptist, where there is also an ancient well and the apparatus for baptism by ablution, not now used. In the time of Justinian, the second, smaller, church (probably dedicated to SS. Giusto and Servolo) was erected at the south side by Bishop Frugiferus, about 550, as the monogram at the left of the apse shows.
The mosaics in the apse are late Byzantine. Four great columns support a cupola in front of the presbytery, by means of four round arches, pendentives, and a drum, round which is an arcade of sixteen stilted round arches with foliated caps and prominently projecting abaci, which it is thought may belong to the original building, though the cupola itself is later. The small apse of the south aisle, with vaulted roof, also belonged to the first building. In front of the apses is a _solea_ with a wagon vault, except in front of the small aisle apse, where it is quadripart.i.te. The aisle is raised a step above the nave. The arcades are uniformly round-arched and stilted, and the caps generally have super-abaci. The north aisle has pointed arches at intervals and a flat roof; the nave of the Santissimo also has a flat roof with beams and brackets. There is a triumphal arch and one blocked window in the apse, with mosaic on the splay of the jamb.
The mosaic in the semi-dome is probably an eleventh-century restoration of an older work, itself very carefully restored in 1863. The Virgin, robed in blue and holding the Divine Child to her bosom, is enthroned between the archangels Michael and Gabriel, who hold lilies and are robed in priestly costume. The Child blesses with the right hand in the Greek fashion. Below, on the wall, are figures of the Apostles, of a very early date, for SS. Peter and Paul are without their usual attributes, and the white draperies shaded with pale colours are early Christian in arrangement. Between the figures are palm-trees and conventional plant ornaments. The church is very dark, but the details of the mosaics may be studied in the careful copies in the museum. Above the altar of S. Giusto, to the right, in the semi-dome, SS. Giusto and Servolo stand on each side of our Saviour, beneath whose feet are two monsters, asp and basilisk. The central apse was reconstructed in the seventeenth century. The main reconstruction took place in the fourteenth century. The aisle walls of the two churches were demolished, and a nave built reaching from the pillars of one church to those of the other, thus uniting them under one roof, the western wall being placed contiguous to the campanile, and chapels added at each side. The memorial of the Gens Barbia was sawn in two and used as jambs for the west door, and inscriptions from the pedestals of statues and cla.s.sical ornamental fragments were used in the campanile, both round the openings and close to the niche which encloses the statue of S. Giusto holding a model of the cathedral and castle. The consecration took place in 1385, Bishop Henry of Wildenstein officiating. Below the S. Giusto mosaics are wall-paintings of the fourteenth century, in niches of a much earlier date, with slender antique columns of precious marbles; in the centre the saint stands with a model of the city in his hand--the earliest record of its appearance extant; the other niches show his sufferings.
In the niche of S. Apollinaris are remains of frescoes of two dates found in 1892, and thought to belong to the sixth and the tenth centuries; other remains of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, found under whitewash, prove that the whole church was ornamented with painting as the "Acts" relate. When the roof was raised the exterior of the drum of S. Giusto was enclosed within the church. The trilobate roof of the nave was mediaeval, but has lately been restored. The facade also was restored in 1843, and the gravestones ranged along its base were then removed from the floor.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE OF S. GIUSTO, CAMPANILE OF THE CATHEDRAL, TRIESTE]
In the sacristy is a picture signed Tommaso Giottino, and dated 1313; it is thought to have belonged to the high-altar. There is a picture by Benedetto Carpaccio, of the Madonna, between SS. Giusto and Servolo, in the right-hand portion of the church. The treasury is kept in the chapel of S. Antonio Abate, to the north of the apse of the Santissimo; it is closed with a very fine late Renaissance German iron grille, with elaborate projecting floral bosses. It contains a thirteenth-century processional cross, with a _repousse_ Christ on a ground of gilded silver.
The original wheel-window of the facade is in the Museo Lapidario, just below the cathedral, where a good many well-heads of Venetian type are also preserved, and a few fragments of eighth and ninth-century carving, as well as the usual antique columns, bases, and inscriptions, one expects to find. There are also stone balista b.a.l.l.s, relics of ancient sieges, many cinerary urns, and a few mutilated figures, grouped under the trees and upon the terraces which descend to the little temple in which the better pieces are housed. These include the lower half of a female figure, graceful in pose, and, in the folds of the drapery, a decree of the Decurions" College of Trieste in honour of the quaestor and Senator Fabius Severus (of the time of Antoninus Pius), engraved on one of two large pedestals, a sarcophagus and steles, the inscriptions from the jambs of the campanile, &c. The collection is mainly due to Dr. Dom.
di Rossetti, who, in 1830, erected the monument to Winckelmann (murdered here in 1768), which is against one of the walls. Near the Jesuit church, half-way down the slope of the hill, is a half-buried Roman arch of the time of Severus, ornamented equally on both sides, perhaps a memorial of one of the ancient gates. It is known as the Arco di Riccardo, from some fancied connection with Richard Cur de Lion.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ARCO DI RICCARDO, TRIESTE]
The finest objects in the Civic Museum are two pieces of antique Greek metal-work found at Taranto. One is a bronze jug, upon which are represented two griffins, facing each other by the sides of a palmette, with a flowing band of vine-leaves surrounding the body above. The relief is very delicate, and the design beautiful. The other is a rhyton of silver which is almost unique. The _motif_ is the head of a young deer. The ears, which project at right angles, are riveted on; the rest is _repousse_ in one piece. It is so finely modelled and so accurate in its detail, that it has been recognised as a representation of the _Cervus Dama_, which was formerly common in South Italy. The interior of the ears and the lip of the cup have been gilt, and in the nostrils is niello. Round the neck is a band with four small figures, probably representing the nuptials of Poseidon and Saturia, daughter of Minos, from which sprang Taras, the mythical founder of Taranto. Two of the figures are seated, two standing; their draperies are gilded. The handle curves gracefully to the back of the jawbones, where it is attached to a palmette. The work may be of the fourth century B.C., the doe"s head being much finer than the figures, which are possibly a later addition. The only similar piece of silver-work known is the bull"s-head rhyton in the Hermitage Collection, St. Petersburg. In this also the figures (which are of barbarians) are inferior to the animal forms.
There are various sculptures discovered at Barcola, the finest of which is a male torso with the greater part of the legs, prehistoric objects, coins, a personification of Istria, things found at Pirano, and three splendid large Chinese bronzes. The copies of the mosaics of the Apostles from S. Giusto are on the ceiling of the upper room. A seal of the city of the fourteenth century bears three towers and the inscription: "Sistilianum publica Casiilir mare Certos dat michi fines." Sistiana was on the north of Trieste; Castilir, the river Risano, was the southern boundary. The present arms were given by Frederick IV., 1464--a black two-headed eagle on gold on the first of three horizontal fields, and on the lowest the halberd of S. Sergius, on the colours of the archduchy of Austria.
The bishopric of Trieste corresponded to the Roman _municipium_ in its boundaries. The bishops gradually became temporal lords of the city, and in 1295 the commune bought its freedom from Brissa di Toppo for two hundred marks. At this time the first communal palace was built. The first statute, however, dates from 1313-1319. It provides for a foreign podesta, a greater and lesser council, and the usual officials from the n.o.ble families. The t.i.tle of Count of Trieste was first taken by Antonio di Negri (1350-1370). During his time Venice besieged the city for eleven months, conquering it in 1368, notwithstanding the attempted succour of Leopold of Austria. They then built a fort on the hill of S.
Giusto and another on the sh.o.r.e called Amarina. Trieste made overtures to the dukes of Austria, and war continued between them and Venice till 1370, when it was ended by the peace of Kaisach, by which Venice agreed to pay 75,000 florins of gold, and to give up the castle of Vragna, as well as to relinquish all claim to Trieste and her territory. The Venetian forts were demolished, and in 1382 the city gave itself to the Habsburgs to make itself secure. In 1470 Frederick III. built the castle to control the factions which had been indulging in civil war, and Trieste lost a good deal of her liberty. The mediaeval city formed a triangle on the north-west slope of the castle. Till the middle of the eighteenth century it was a small town of 6,000 inhabitants, but the gift of free harbour rights by Charles VI., in 1719, soon made it prosperous. Italian, German, and Swiss merchants settled in numbers, and the population grew till it is now over 160,000.