Summary The Santa Maria Antiqua Complex in the Forum in Rome was probably established at the foot of the Palatine Hill in the 6th century. Over the following 600 years it was decorated with a unique series of frescoes bearing evidence of imperial, papal and monastic influences. Abandoned in the 9th century, limited use probably continued up to the 11th century. By the 17th century the complex was completely buried under the rising floor of the Forum. Excavations in 1900 exposed a largely intact complex containing hundreds of 6th - 11th century frescoes, in some places over four layers deep and a unique Chapel of Medical Saints which suggests this was also an incubation site. The English Press hailed the site as the 'Sistine Chapel of the Ninth century'. Lavish illustrations of these frescoes, following recent restoration, make this book an indispensible resource, not only for those working on the church but also for those interested in contemporaneous material in medieval sites especially in Rome, Europe and Byzantium. This monograph contains the proceedings of an International Conference held at the British School at Rome on 4-6 December, 2013. It reports results of the major project of preservation and research led by the Soprintendenza and carried out over the last 12 years on the fabric of the church, its frescoes, floor, wall and ceiling mosaics, its drainage and infrastructure. Much of the restoration was funded by the World Monuments Fund. The conference also marked the 75th anniversary of the death of Gordon Rushforth, the first Director of the British School at Rome and the author of one of the earliest key papers on the S. Maria Antiqua site. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION by Eileen Rubery, Giulia Bordi, John Osborne TIMELINE TOPOGRAPHIC REFERENCES LIST OF COLOUR PLATES COLOUR PLATES HISTORIOGRAPHY Oscar Mei 1702: The discovery of Santa Maria Antiqua T.P. Wiseman Gordon McNeil Rushforth and Santa Maria Antiqua Andrea Paribeni 'With Boni in the Forum'. The relationship between Gordon McNeil Rushforth and Giacomo Boni according to archival documentation Ernesto Monaco Measuring Santa Maria Antiqua: from Petrignani to the present Giovanni Gasbarri 'Ce monument est avant tout un t moin': Wladimir de Gr neisen and the multicultural context of Santa Maria Antiqua John Osborne Per Jonas Nordhagen, Santa Maria Antiqua, and the study of early medieval painting in Rome TOPOGRAPHY Henry Hurst The early church of Santa Maria Antiqua David Knipp Richard Delbr ck and the reconstruction of a 'ceremonial route' in Domitian's palace vestibule Robert Coates-Stephens The 'Oratory of the Forty Martyrs' CONSERVATION Giuseppe Morganti "Per meglio provvedere alla conservazione dei dipinti ?". 1984-2014: Santa Maria Antiqua 30 Years Later Werner Schmid Diary of a long conservation campaign The palimpsests of Santa Maria Antiqua Maria Andaloro The Project Giulia Bordi The three Christological cycles in the sanctuary of Santa Maria Antiqua Paola Pogliani, Claudia Pelosi, Giorgia Agresti Palimpsests and pictorial phases in the light of studies of the techniques of execution and the materials employed ICONOGRAPHY Per Olav Folger Expression of Dogma: Text and imagery in the triumphal arch decoration Manuela Gianandrea The fresco with the Three Mothers and the paintings of the right aisle in the Church of Santa Maria Antiqua Maria Grafova The decorations in the left aisle of Santa Maria Antiqua within the context of the political history of the Iconoclastic era Marios Costambeys Pope Hadrian I and Santa Maria Antiqua: Liturgy and patronage in the late eighth century RE-READING THE DECORATIVE PROGRAMME Giulia Bordi The apse wall of Santa Maria Antiqua (IV-IX centuries) Eileen Rubery Monks, Miracles and Healing. Doctrinal Belief and Miraculous Interventions: Saints Abbacyrus and John at Santa Maria Antiqua and related Roman Churches between the sixth and the twelfth centuries Richard Price The frescoes in Santa Maria Antiqua, the Lateran Synod of 649, and pope Vitalian Beat Brenk A new chronology of the worship of images in Santa Maria Antiqua AFTERWORD Maria Andaloro The icon of Santa Maria Nova after Santa Maria Antiqua