Many women are highlighted in the Euphrasiana Basilica mosaics in Parenzo.

1. The Feminine Euphrasiana Basilica

2. Around the year 550, the Euphrasiana Basilica was
consecrated in what is today Parenzo, Croatia.
It has the oldest surviving apse mosaic of Mary.
The apse was the sacred space directly above the altar.

4. What would you expect to find
in the mosaics of this basilica
and the very oldest apse with Mary?

5. In the apse, Mary sits erect, holding her son.

7. Saints offer martyrs’ crowns and gifts.

8. Twelve large portraits of female saints encircle the apse.

11. A mosaic of Mary and the Angel
of the Annunciation is to the left of the altar.

13. A mosaic of Mary and Elizabeth
at the Visitation is to the right of the altar.

15. Look again.
Mary and Elizabeth both wear a pallium,
a white sash with a cross.

18. These mosaics may contain the earliest
Christian representation of a pallium
—the long white sash with a cross—
worn by bishops and popes.

19. Did you find what you expected?

20. Art asText
By Ally Kateusz
In honor of Rosemary Radford Ruether