The Mosaics of the Church of Santa Maria Do Freixo (Marco de Canaveses, Portugal): Reflections on Its Meaning in the Context of the Late Musivaria of the Douro Valley

Abstract

In this paper, we present the polychromatic roman mosaics with a geometric organization and a vegetalist decoration discovered during the archaeological excavation that took place in 2001 in Santa Maria do Freixo church (Northern Portugal). After describing the ruins and the mosaics, a brief contextualization (including the formal analysis of the building and of the mosaics and its local and regional geographic context) is given in order to try to understand its social and cultural meanings.

Keywords

• polychromatic
• geometric
• vegetalist
• douro valley
• late antiquity