San Paolo fuori le Mura

The north wall of the north transept, depicting an altar dedicated to the Conversion of St. Paul, made of malachite and lapis lazuli and presented by Nicholas I of Russia (by Vincenzo Camuccini); [Rebuilt after a fire in 1823.] In addition to the standard basilicas, several major buildings were erected or decorated in Rome in the 5th century that exhibit a classicizing style and have thus been identified as part of a renaissance of Classical Roman architecture launched by Pope Sixtus III (reigned 432-440): S Maria Maggiore, the remodelled Lateran baptistery, S Paolo fuori le mura as decorated under Pope Leo I (reigned 440-461), the oratory of Santa Croce (destroyed 1588) near the Lateran and S Stefano Rotondo. The cloister dates from ca. 1228. The Cosmati (traditional name for the marbleworkers of Rome (marmorarii Romani) active in the 12th and 13th centuries) produced cloisters of great beauty in the late 12th and 13th centuries, for example Monreale cathedral (ca. 1175-1190) in Sicily and S Paolo fuori le Mura (begun 1205) and S Giovanni in Laterano (completed 1227) in Rome. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.groveart.com/ (accessed 2/3/2008