Interior of the Basilica

In the entire city of Rome, Santa Sabina is perhaps the church that shows us best what Christian worship space must have been like in the early Middle Ages. From the basilical plan — a plain rectangular hall with two side aisles and no transept — to the antique columns of giallo antico and granite, to the mosaic frieze running over them, to the stone grillwork of the windows from an age in which large panes of glass were not feasible, everything has remained substantially as it was when the church was built fifteen hundred years ago.  The basilica of Santa Sabina is  famous for one precious relic of Antiquity: the great wooden door that is the largest ancient Roman wooden sculpture in existence.

Saint Dominic lived here and planted the first orange tree in Rome.  It's still there.  Scroll down and you'll see a photo of it ... oranges and all.  It's an incredible place.  Watch for photos of Pope John Paul II on Ash Wednesday this year.  He'll be at Santa Sabina!

Mosaic tombstone in the floor:  "Hic jacet frater Munio Zamorensis
nacione hyspanus quondam ordnis fratrum predicatorum magister
septimus qui obiit septima (sic) die mensis martis anno domini
trecentisimo (sic) pontificatus dni Bonifaccii PP VIII anno VI +"    
"Here lies Brother Muñoz of Zamora, a native of Spain, once the
seventh master of the Order of Preachers, who died on March 7
in the year of the Lord 1300 in the 6th year of the
pontificate of Lord Pope Boniface VIII

Saint Dominic's Cell

Orange Tree brought to Rome by Saint Dominic
Believed to be the first in Rome!