The Early Mosaics of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome - A Mystery Made of Beauty and Profound Images | Steigerwald, Gerhard

Built as the first Christian showpiece, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore graces Rome's highest promontory, the Esquiline Hill. With its exterior beauty and its interior mosaics, the Basilica was meant to bestow upon the Eternal City of Rome a new, Christian aspect. The foundation of this new beginning is Jesus Christ who now reigns over the Imperial City and the globe instead of the earlier pagan goddess Roma. He is not solely a man like all the former Roman emperors, but the son of the Eternal God. The Basilica defies the bishop of Constantinople, Nestorius, who had publicly expressed doubts about the divinity of the man Jesus.