Published on the 26-07-2008

Trapani, rare Byzantine baptismal font found

An extremely rare and very well preserved Byzantine baptismal font has been found on an island off the western Sicilian coast near Trapani.

The font was discovered in a newly unearthed Byzantine church and baptistery on the island, already a tourist attraction because of a Roman fort and Norman church.

''The finds provide exceptional evidence of the vitality of the island of Marettimo in the Byzantine era,'' archaeologists said.

The font is covered in decorated plaster and shaped like a cross to conform with Byzantine baptismal rites.

''As you peer further down its shape shifts first into an octagon, then a circle and finally a rectagon, highlighting the high level of craftsmanship that went into its working,'' cultural heritage officials said. These geometrical figures had religious and symbolic meaning in the early Church, they said. The only other Byzantine font in Sicily was found last year at the ancient site of Selinunte (Selinos in Greek) on the south coast of the island.

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