"The church was rebuilt under Calixtus II.; about A.D. 1128, by Alfanus, Roman Chancellor, whose marble sepulchre stands in the atrium, with his epitaph, along a cornice, giving him that most comprehensive title, 'an honest man,' _vir probus_. Some more than half-faded paintings, a Madonna and Child, angels, and two mitred heads, on the wall behind the canopy, give importance to this Chancellor's tomb. Though now disfigured exteriorly by a modern façade in the worst style, interiorly by a waggon-vault roof and heavy pilasters, this church is still one of the mediæval gems of Rome, and retains many olden details: the classic colonnades, probably left in their original place since the time of Adrian I.; and the fine campanile, one of the loftiest in Rome; also the sculptured doorway, the rich intarsio pavement, the high altar, the marble and mosaic-inlaid ambones, the marble episcopal throne, with supporting lions and a mosaic decoration above, &c.,--all of the twelfth century. But we have to regret the destruction of the ancient choir-screens, and (still more inexcusable) the white-washing of wall surfaces so as entirely to conceal the mediæval paintings which adorned them, conformably to that once almost universal practice of polychrome decoration in churches, prescribed even by law under Charlemagne. Ciampini (see his valuable history of this basilica) mentions the iron rods for curtains between the columns of the atrium, and those, still in their place, in the porch, with rings for suspending; also a small chapel with paintings, at one end of the atrium, designed for those penitents who were not allowed to worship within the sacred building--as such, an evidence of disciplinary observance, retained till the twelfth century. Over the portal are some tiny bas-reliefs, so placed along the inner side of the lintel that many might pass underneath without seeing them: in the centre, a hand blessing, with the Greek action, between two sheep, laterally; the four evangelistic emblems, and two doves, each pecking out of a vase, and one perched upon a dragon (more like a lizard), to signify the victory of the purified soul over mundane temptations."--_Hemans' Christian Art._ Close to this church stood the Palace of Pope Gelasius II. (1118).