Early Christian Mausoleum - Pecs, Hungary

In the proximity of the Cella Septichora Visitor Centre, on Szent István Square we find the early Christian Mausoleum. The two-storey, rectangular sepulture was found in 1975 while dismantling the former barrage. From 1978 to 1984 the excavation and the reconstruction took place. The base walls of the chapel are well visible even on the surface; they are real treasures of the square that is still parked today. The chapel closed with an apse served as the venue of burial feasts. The burial chamber underneath the chapel, decorated with paintings, was used as a sepulture. The burial chamber used to be a painted room originally, on the south side of which there was a carved sarcophagus. Later the burial chamber was enlarged in the western direction, when it wan supplemented with two more sarcophagi. Although the ceiling of the burial chamber fell in, the remaining parts of the wall paintings are still well visible. The frescoes, probably made in the 350s, show scenes from the Old Testament, and can be divided into two parts. The north wall is decorated with the fall of Adam and Eve, Prophet Daniel in the den of lions, and the motif of the tree of life. On the east wall, beneath the ceiling we find the motif of Christ, the Christogram. Another characteristic image of the burial chamber is the torso of the figure in red dress, surrounded with wheatear and palm branch.