The chapel has a cone shaped form, a characteristic of the Paleo-Christian constructions. It is located in the northeastern side of the basilica and linked with the northern corridor by a narrow path, which is found five feet below. The stairs, the vestibule (antechamber), the floor and its four alcoves are covered with mosaics. The Cella (Naos) was the biggest and best composed room. The central part of the naos is damaged and it is supposed that it was damaged by the construction over the basilica of the medieval church of Saint Athanasius. Some of the mosaics found were also greatly damaged and it was very difficult to recompense any of them. However, the few fragments found, although greatly damaged, show that their composition and motifs in the central corridor were connected with the underwater world. There you can see beautifully painted fragments, on some tessellated background, underwater plant springs and different sized fish. Traces of the mosaic worked with some colorful glass tessellae on a small surface are preserved at the center. The composition encloses with a wide cornice where painted figures of bees scattered on rhombs, leaves and flowers are one after the other. The mosaic was mainly decorated with natural tessellae cut off from rocks found at the place but among them you can find man-made glass tessellae where green, emerald and ultramarine colors prevail. The altar is mostly distinguished in the naos area. In the last survey, carried out in September 2008, archeologists discovered a cross-shaped hole under the altar, exactly at the place where the table of the altar is supposed to have been. This small area in the form of a cross is called reliquary and is of great importance because it is the place where they preserved the most important holy objects of the church. The apse is located in the eastern part of the naos. Considering that the decorated floor of the naos with mosaics was a unique and unrepeatable composition even the apse must have been covered with mosaics. We can reach this conclusion by the tessellae found around it and the traces decorated on the rudus layer. The past-for is supposed to have been a multifunctional chamber and served as a place to store the evangelical textbooks and the holy objects of liturgical use. There is a communion area orientated towards the east in a room measuring 3x3 meters. The chamber is decorated in polychrome mosaics with colorful motifs. The old Paleochristian motif of 'eukaristia' in a square-shaped form can be found at the center. Some vine branches in bloom and some fowls scattered within this composition sprout from the cup. The composition ends with the pigtail motif. The communion aria is filled with the motif of the fish scales and is framed with the motif of lilies alternated up and down. The Catechumen is constructed in the south side of the basilica together with a small communion area and has served as a teaching place for the Christian community. When the members of this community are not baptized, they usually stay near the past-for. The cornice, a very well decorated motif, is made up of some cogged and repeated circles in the form of a propeller. Some 18 fowls and 18 kinds of fruit, such as apples, cherries, peas, grapes, etc have been painted on them. The same motif is found in the altar of the basilica C, in the ancient and byzantine city of Bylis. Twelve squares have been painted in the central part of the floor. There is a fowl in each of them and some water vegetation in the background. The baptistery has been built in a square shaped form, with dimensions of 3.4 x 3.4 meters. It is next to the catechumen and served to baptize the candidates of the church community, who became members after the completion of the baptizing rituals. In the center of the baptistery, there is a baptistery bath in the form of a four leaf clover, once covered with marble slabs. Fragments of these slabs can be still found nowadays but part of it was stolen at the time the basilica was ruined and totally abandoned. The baptistery floor has been decorated with mosaic where the vineyard motif prevails. Cups using dark cubes have been painted in its four centers and they are linked to each other by means of vineyards rich in leaves and grapes. The configuration ends by two rows of black tessellae along the bordering walls of this area. Both naves, that in the north and the one in the south side, have been decorated in colorful mosaics. The motif of 'eukaristia' dominates the entrance and it is decorated with exuberant vine branches full of leaves, grapes, and birds that peck. The atrium of Trema is a covered area. The atrium is restricted with bordering walls on one side and a chain of arches placed over walls columns on the other side. This area represents the covered part of the inner yard of the church. The inner year of the basilica is covered only in three sides while it is open at the center.

Type of Data Point - Publicly Available Information

Lin Basilica - Public Info

Visit page of the element - Lin Basilica

Inserted: 19-10-2023 22:10:47