Exterior
The exterior of the church, with its large windows made of selenite, not glass, looks much as it did when it was built in the 5th century.
The wooden door of the basilica is generally agreed to be the original door from 430-32, although it was apparently not constructed for this doorway. Eighteen of its wooden panels survive — all but one depicting scenes from the Bible. Most famous among these is one of the earliest certain depictions of Christ's crucifixion, although other panels have also been the subjects of extensive analysis because of their importance for the study of Christian iconography.
Above the doorway, the interior preserves an original dedication in Latin hexameters.
The campanile (bell tower) dates from the 10th century.
Read more about this topic: Santa Sabina
Famous quotes containing the word exterior:
“There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (18351910)
“The competent leader of men cares little for the niceties of other peoples characters: he cares mucheverythingfor the exterior uses to which they may be put.... These are men to be moved. How should he move them? He supplies the power; others simply the materials on which that power operates.”
—Woodrow Wilson (18561924)
“Professor Eucalyptus said, The search
For reality is as momentous as
The search for god. It is the philosophers search
For an interior made exterior
And the poets search for the same exterior made
Interior: breathless things broodingly abreath....”
—Wallace Stevens (18791955)