SACRED SPACE WITHOUT END: COLONNADE WALL MURAL OF THE EPISCOPAL BASILICA OF PHILIPPOPOLIS

Abstract

Among the scarce evidence of the mural decoration of the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis is a fragment in the lower part of the northern portico, consisting of two layers of paint, laid successively in the 4th – 5th century and in the 5th – 6th century. The technique is buon fresco and represents imitation of stone. The earlier image is of a square construction. The decoration of the second layer of paint follows a complicated compositional pattern, the so-called "columns and orthostats".The analysis outlines analogues of various materials from the Roman and early Byzantine periods. It is suggested that the picturesque columns in the lower register of the walls are a projection of the real columns in the church and depict the church interior. They are intended to "liberate" the sacred space in the infinity and visualize the idea that it is the God's house, Container of the Uncontainable, where God exists in an invisible and indescribable manner.