Dedicated to Early Christian art from Rome’s catacombs and basilicas. Rows of carved sarcophagi show Christ’s miracles, apostles, and symbols; nearby are gold-glass medallions, inscriptions, and liturgical objects. The galleries reveal how late-Roman imagery and faith fused into a new visual language for a Christian empire.
Artworks in Pius-Christian Museum
at the Vatican Museums
#81
Statuette of the Good Shepherd
A youthful shepherd carries a lamb across his shoulders, stepping gently through a rocky patch. The image reworks a pastoral motif into an early Christian symbol of care and salvation—approachable, humble, and meant to comfort the faithful.
Quintessential early Christian image adapted from Roman pastoral types.
#82
Jonah Sarcophagus
An early Christian sarcophagus carved with the Jonah cycle: the prophet cast to the sea monster, spat out alive, then resting under the vine. The sequence turns Hebrew story into a quiet promise of resurrection for the person laid within.
Classic Jonah cycle—key early Christian symbol of resurrection.
#83
Via Salaria Sarcophagus
An early Christian coffin from the cemeteries along Rome’s Via Salaria. Friezes mix calm orant worshipers, the Good Shepherd, and compact gospel scenes, turning a Roman memorial into a pictorial hope of salvation and community beyond death.
Textbook early Christian iconography on a Roman family coffin.
#84
Sarcophagus of the Two Brothers
Biblical scenes march across a marble ‘comic strip’—Jonah, Daniel, Peter and Paul—framing two beardless men who share both kinship and faith.
Prime example of Late Antique Christian iconography in Roman funerary format.
#85
Dogmatic Sarcophagus
A theology lesson in marble: Father-like Christ creates Adam, the Trinity signaled in symbols, and salvation scenes weave doctrine into a single façade.
Classic Late Antique ‘creed in images’—a visual summary of early Christian doctrine.
#86
Sarcophagus with Scenes from the Passion of Christ
A marble frieze narrates the Passion—Arrest to Entombment—in compact, emblematic scenes cut for hope and remembrance.
Clear Late Antique Passion cycle used for elite Christian burials.
#87
Sarcophagus "with trees" (Anastasis type)
Scenes divided by slender trees culminate in Christ’s Descent to the Dead—Adam raised, gates of Hades cast down.
Rare sarcophagus front centering the Anastasis in Latin Christian context.
#88
Sarcophagus Front with the Traditio Legis
Christ enthroned hands a scroll to Peter as Paul stands by: the ‘giving of the Law’—authority and gospel in one emblem.
Canonical early Christian image of Christ delegating authority to Peter.
#89
Sarcophagus Front of the "Bethesda" Type
Christ commands, a pallet is lifted, and rippling water marks the Pool of Bethesda—healing carved as a single, decisive moment.
Clear early Christian relief linking miracle, mercy, and resurrection hope.
#90
Sarcophagus with the Crossing of the Red Sea
Moses parts the waters with a staff; soldiers flail as waves crash back. Deliverance is carved as a type of baptism and rebirth.
Key Old Testament ‘type’ for Christian baptism and salvation.Last Minute Offers
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