ORSERA. - An Istrian municipality near Parenzo. Ursaria appears in the "Tabula Peutingeriana," where the name is attributed to an island, corresponding in position to O.

A center of agricultural and commercial activity in the Roman age (it has an excellent natural harbor), it provides a rather uncommon example of a domus ecclesiae, discovered in 1935 near the sea. Among the various rooms, noteworthy are the Basilica (9.30 x 15.20 m), which arose as rectangular in the mid-4th century with the two annexed liturgical rooms, provided with an apse and a narthex in the mid-5th century, and a small hall, in which the catechumenate can be recognized, contemporary with the Basilica. The latter partly preserves the mosaic floor, composed of 91 shields of two sizes, connected by braided bands and adorned with various symbols, among them the seasons. The floor mosaic of the catechumenate is made of curvilinear quadrilaterals and has a fish pond. Inscriptions are completely lacking. In the mosaics one should note the elegance of the geometric motifs, the impressionistic rapidity of the figurations, the vivid sense of color and certain connections with African floors.

Near this Early Christian site is the church of S. Maria a Marina, with three naves (12th century), to which a Franciscan convent was annexed; in the town there was a small Romanesque church, the ancient parish church, destroyed in 1941.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: B. Vergottin, Del più vero primo titolo giurisdizionale dei vescovi di Parenzo nel distretto di O., Venezia 1881; A. Gnirs, Grundrissformen istrischer Kirchen aus dem Mittelal., in Jahrb. Inst. Zentral-Kommission für Denkmalpflege, 7 (1919), p. 59; M. Mirabella Roberti, La sede paleocrist. di O., in Ann. triestini, 15 (1944), pp. 31-122.

Mario Mirabella Roberti

@incollection{ec9_orsera, author = {Mirabella, Roberti Mario}, title = {Orsera}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {369}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/orsera} }

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