Crypt (ca. 1050)
The crypt of the earlier church is reached from a door in the right aisle. It was excavated in 1895 and restored in 2000.
Only the apse and part of the crypt has been excavated: [it was originally seven bays wide by ??? deep] The six surviving columns came from earlier buildings: four are Ionic (2nd or 1st century BC); and the other two probably date to the 5th century AD.
[The foundation of the Roman terrace can be seen opposite the entrance, with a drainage channel running along it that directed water into the cistern.]
Sarcophagus of St Rufinus (3rd century)
[Photo courtesy of the Commissione Beni Culturali, Diocese of Assisi]
This marble sarcophagus in the apse is reputed to be the one that originally held the relics of St Rufinus, which was translated to the first church on the site in miraculous circumstances in the 11th century.
The front of the sarcophagus has a relief of the myth of the nymph Selene and her lover, the shepherd Endymion. Selene secured from Zeus the gift of eternal sleep for the mortal Endymion so that he would remain eternally young. She is depicted here in her chariot, about to visit the sleeping shepherd.
The back of the sarcophagus has a fresco of St Rufinus (1556), which suggests that it still housed the relics at that point. They were probably removed in 1580, when they were translated to the new high altar.
Marble relief (ca. 800)
 [Photo courtesy of the Commissione Beni Culturali, Diocese of Assisi] |
Frescoes in the Apse (11th century)
 Symbol of St John (an eagle) and St Luke (an ox) |
Return to San Rufino