The Apse Mosaic at Santa Cecilia in Trastevere: Detail – the Left Side

9th century
Church of Santa Cecilia, Trastevere, Rome

In the left side of the mosaic, St. Paul presents St. Agatha to Christ, while she in turn presents Pope Paschal I. Agatha's status as a martyr is expressed by her crown and by the palm tree on the left. Paschal has a smaller head and a square halo to indicate that he was alive at the time the mosaic was created. He holds a maquette of a church to indicate his sponsorship of the reconstruction of Santa Cecilia. The white scarf marked with crosses is a "pallium," which is worn only by high church officials such as the pope and archbishops.

In this 9th-century image St. Paul carries a book to represent his writings, but he does not yet have the sword that we will see in most of his later portraits.

View the whole apse.

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Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.