Discover Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls

The Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls is one of Rome's four papal basilicas and, as Turismo Roma puts it, the second largest after Saint Peter's. It stands outside the Aurelian Walls on the place where tradition holds the apostle Paul was buried — where the first Christians raised a funerary chapel, later made a basilica by Constantine and consecrated, again by tradition, by Pope Sylvester I in 324.

In the 5th century it was bigger than Old Saint Peter's. The rebuilding that made it so is dated differently by the two sources: Turismo Roma gives 385 to 395, finishing under Honorius; the reference work has Theodosius I beginning in 386, consecration around 402 by Innocent I, and the work, mosaics included, not complete until Leo I's pontificate (440–461).

Almost all of what you walk into is 19th century, because the building burned. After the devastating fire of 1823, Turismo Roma credits the present form to Pasquale Belli and other architects, rebuilding between 1825 and 1854; the reference work states the present building was completed in 1840. The facade and its upper band of 19th-century mosaics are by Luigi Poletti, who also built the campanile and the north pronaos — reusing twelve columns from the nave of the church that burned. The great quadriporch in front was designed at the end of the 19th century by Virginio Vespignani, with Giuseppe Obici's statue of Saint Paul at its centre.

Inside, eighty monolithic granite columns divide five naves — six of them, on the entrance wall, given by the Viceroy of Egypt to Gregory XVI. Mosaic portraits of popes run along the walls of the central nave and the aisles.

Three things here survived or predate the fire. Arnolfo di Cambio's Gothic ciborium of 1285 stands over the high altar, beneath which are the confessio and the apostle's tomb. To its right is the marble paschal candlestick of Nicola D'Angelo and Pietro Vassalletto, 1170. And the apse mosaic was commissioned by Innocent III (1198–1216) and finished under Honorius III.

The cloister is the other reason to come, and it is ticketed. Turismo Roma calls it one of the wonders of thirteenth-century Rome — the work of Jacopo and Pietro Vassalletto, with paired marble columns, no two kinds alike, inlaid with mosaic and coloured marble, under a cornice of animal heads from whose mouths the rainwater runs.

The basilica is open every day 07.00–18.30 and entry is free. The cloister is open 08.00–18.00, last entry 17.30, and costs EUR 4.00 (reduced EUR 3.00).

Five naves, eighty columns, and a plan that is late antique even though the stone is Victorian. Turismo Roma records the interior divided into five naves by eighty monolithic granite columns, among them six on the entrance wall donated by the Viceroy of Egypt to Gregory XVI. The reference work gives the 4th-century church as having a nave and four aisles with a transept — the 19th-century rebuild kept the shape.

The facade is a 19th-century composition with a gold band across the top. It is the work of Luigi Poletti, decorated in its upper band with 19th-century mosaics; Poletti also built the campanile and the pronaos on the northern side, the latter made by reusing twelve columns that had been in the nave of the previous church — salvage from the fire, standing again.

In front, a quadriporch, and it is later than the church. Virginio Vespignani designed it at the end of the nineteenth century, with Giuseppe Obici's statue of Saint Paul at the centre.

The altar sits on two raised floors. Under Leo I the transept was elevated and an altar placed over the tomb; under Gregory the Great the transept pavement was raised again and a new altar set above it, directly over Saint Paul's sarcophagus. Over all that stands Arnolfo di Cambio's Gothic ciborium of 1285, and beneath it the confessio.

Three medieval objects anchor a modern room. The ciborium; the marble paschal candlestick of Nicola D'Angelo and Pietro Vassalletto, 1170, to the right of the altar; and the apse mosaic willed by Innocent III (1198–1216) and completed under Honorius III.

The cloister is the finest piece of design on the site and it is not in the church. Turismo Roma gives it to Jacopo and Pietro Vassalletto and calls it one of the wonders of thirteenth-century Rome: paired marble columns of differing type and form, decorated with mosaics and coloured marbles, carrying arches above which rises an epistyle ornamented with magnificent mosaics, closed at the top by a white marble cornice with heads of lions, oxen, goats and other animals from whose mouths the rainwater runs. It also holds architectural fragments from the ancient basilica and finds from the nearby Ostian burial ground.

This building has been rebuilt after catastrophe four times, and the catastrophes are the structural history.

It starts as a grave with a marker. Constantine founded a basilica over the burial place of Paul of Tarsus, where followers were said to have erected a cella memoriae; it was consecrated by Pope Sylvester in 324.

Then it is replaced by something enormous. Turismo Roma dates the larger church 385 to 395, under Honorius; the reference work has Theodosius I beginning in 386, consecration around 402 by Innocent I, and completion only under Leo I (440–461). In the 5th century it was larger than Old Saint Peter's.

Twice the floor was raised to honour the tomb, and twice that buried it. Under Leo I, after the roof collapsed through fire or lightning, the transept was elevated and an altar installed — probably the first over Paul's tomb, which was left untouched but largely underground. Under Gregory the Great, the pavement was raised again and another altar placed directly over the sarcophagus.

Then the roof came down again. An earthquake on 29 April 801 brought it down; Leo III rebuilt it.

Then they fortified it. Damaged in a 9th-century Saracen raid, the basilica, monastery and peasants' dwellings were walled by Pope John VIII (872–882) into the town of Johannispolis — destroyed outright by the earthquake of 1348.

Then it burned. The fire of 1823 took the medieval basilica. Turismo Roma credits the rebuilding to Pasquale Belli with other architects, 1825 to 1854; the reference work says the present building was completed in 1840. Luigi Poletti built the facade, the campanile and the north pronaos, reusing twelve columns from the burned nave.

And in 2007 they dug. Excavation beside the Abbey garden ran about two years and found early medieval remains across about a thousand square metres, investigated under the direction of the Vatican Museums with the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology and La Sapienza.

Is it free? The basilica is — open every day 07.00–18.30, free entry. The cloister is not: EUR 4.00, reduced EUR 3.00.

What are the cloister's hours? 08.00–18.00 every day, last entry 17.30. It shuts before the church does.

What does the cloister ticket include? Besides the 13th-century cloister: the picture gallery, the Chapel of Relics, the exhibition gallery and other rooms, plus the archaeological area dug from 2007.

How big is it? Turismo Roma calls it the second largest after Saint Peter's among Rome's four papal basilicas. In the 5th century it was larger than Old Saint Peter's.

Is the building original? No. A devastating fire in 1823 destroyed the medieval basilica. Turismo Roma dates the rebuilding 1825–1854 under Pasquale Belli; the reference work says the present building was completed in 1840.

What survived? Among the notable older works: Arnolfo di Cambio's ciborium of 1285, the paschal candlestick of 1170, and the apse mosaic commissioned by Innocent III.

Is Saint Paul really buried here? The church stands on the place where, according to tradition, the apostle was buried, and where his followers were said to have raised a cella memoriae. The sources state the tradition as a tradition.

When is Mass? 07.00, 10.00 and 17.00 Monday to Friday; 07.00 and 10.00 Saturday morning; 18.00 Saturday evening; and on Sundays 08.00, 10.00 conventual, 12.00 and 18.00.

How long should I allow? About an hour and a quarter, plus the journey out.