A reader brought this article in the History Blog to my notice recently. It features a partially restored and recently reopened church that was originally built in the 1st century AD as an aqueduct in a small village, Santa Maria in Stelle outside Verona in Italy. There is a World Monuments website description here.
The current exterior of the church
The History Blog article linked above describes in thorough and well-presented detail the content of the frescoes. I encourage you to read it. As well as describing the frescoes which date from the 5th century to the 9th century, it gives an account of the history of the church. It began as an aqueduct that had a nymphaeum built into its arches in the 3rd century AD. I had to look up 'nymphaeum is a temple dedicated to nymphs. This became a baptistry in the 4th century AD and in the following century, it became a church. In the hypogeum (which is the underground part, what we might call the crypt in a church today - I had to look up this word too!) and which contains a fresco of Mary with a blue background and stars, not yet restored and not clearly discernible at this point. This is what gives its name to the village.
This aroused my curiosity. It seems that the need for a baptistry was greater than the need for a church and so it was built some time before the church. The other place where I have seen this occurring is at the Duomo in Florence in which the baptistry was built a century or so before the main cathedral building. One couldn't imagine this happening today - any suggestions as to the thinking behind this would be welcome in the comments!
The frescoes are all line-based, that is they use line to describe form rather than tonal variation and are done with a sure and smoothly flowing hand, which indicates great skill, especially on this scale. Coloration tends to be applied as flat, ungraded tone. The ass upon which Christ rides is done particularly gracefully I thought.
The northern chamber, recently restored with Christ Enthroned With the Apostles, above the altar
Included in it is a link to a visual device, here, that leads to a virtual tour of the recently constructed north chamber which has frescoes of Christ's entry into Jerusalem, the three young men in the fiery furnace and the massacred of the Holy Innocents. Look out for the ornate and beautiful floor design, not remarked upon by the writer of the article.
Another point that struck me is the contrast between the use of arches of an aqueduct in Roman times with the most common use for the space between such arches today that are under viaducts. Today, in California, at least, these become tented villages for the homeless, not beautiful churches.
