L'ambientazione scenica del mosaico absidale di Santa Maria Nova al Foro Romano (XII secolo)

The apse mosaic of Santa Maria Nova in the Roman Forum, dating back to about the mid-12th century, has been widely discussed by scholars because of the iconographic choices of the subjects: in the centre, the Virgin and Child, belonging to the version of Maria Regina, crowned and seated on a throne with a lyre-shaped dossal; on the sides two pairs of apostle-brothers, selected on the basis of the order of enunciation given in Matthew 10,2 (on the right Peter and Andrew, on the left James the Greater and John). However, a deeper discussion is still lacking about the scenic setting that hosts the sacred assembly of figures: on a heavenly space consisting of the usual band of flowery meadow and an equally frequent golden sky, six elegant columns support a curtain of bricks, also made of gold, that only apparently is part of a rectilinear architectural structure. The curve of the apse and the large zenith semicircle, containing the Dextera Domini and other symbols alluding to the empyrean, give the impression that it is a temple with a central plan, with an oculus in the centre, similar to real examples, such as the Pantheon, which became Santa Maria ad Martyres from the beginning of the 7th century, and the Rotunda of Saint-Bénigne in Dijon, dating back to the early 11th century. In the mosaic of the Roman Forum basilica, the alignment of the columns along the lower edge of the apse would suggest, in short, the intention of evoking a circular building, leaning towards the nave of the church, as if to include the faithful within itself. This contribution aims at reflecting on the meaning of this particular scenic construction, probably linked to the phenomenon of the architectural diffusion of the Marian rotundas and, more generally, to the image of the Mater Ecclesia, sometimes portrayed, in iconography and in patristics, as a circular temple.