Velí. - The *vela* that adorned Christian basilicas certainly derived from the common use in patrician dwellings and Roman public buildings.
Velí - Paleochristian basilicas with doors adorned with *vela* (4th century), side of the sarcophagus, formerly Lateran 174, now transferred to the Vatican Grottoes, Basilica of St. Peter.
The entrance doors had them both as a protective covering (St. Paulinus, *Poëm.*, XVIII, 30) and as simple ornamentation (ibid., XIV, 98) to express that allegorical meaning given by the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians (3, 14). The entrances were indeed fitted either with wooden or bronze leaves, or, in their absence, were protected by heavy curtains; in either case the arch or lintel was always externally adorned with a single *velum*, or more often a double one, which was raised by tying it at the center or by suspending it from two fixtures attached to the side jambs. Since no surviving examples remain, what is known is deduced from written sources and surviving depictions. Typical illustrative examples are offered by the scene on the ivory reliquary of Samagher, the Lateran sarcophagus no. 174 (Wilpert, *Sarcofagi*, pl. 121, 2-3) and the mosaics of the dome of St. George in Thessalonica. *Vela* are seen at the entrance of churches, as in a panel of the door of St. Sabina, in a graffito on a sepulchral slab, now in the Lateran Christian Museum, and in the mosaics of Ravenna. Subdeacons and door-keepers (v. STOFFE, vol. XI, col. 1355) were assigned the duty of raising the curtains before distinguished persons.
Other types of *vela*, each with its own characteristics, were intended for the intercolumnar spaces of the naves (sometimes the suspension hooks or side rings remain), the presbyterium, the altar, the ciborium (also called *cortinae* and *tetravela*), the portico, the narthex, and the sacristy. It is thought that Constantine was the first to donate to the church of Constantinople *vela* bordered with gold. Certainly in the era of peace the popes made gifts of all kinds of *vela* (single, double, quadruple, etc.) to the churches of Rome, and from the precise descriptions often given in the *Liber Pontificalis*, it is possible to determine the number and in part the quality of the fabrics themselves.
As for the number, the source is not always precise: sometimes the *vela* intended for the intercolumnar spaces are in greater quantity and then are easily understood to be indicated also for the doors or for the presbyterium or around the altar. As for the quality, a precious source is the list contained in the *Charta Comunitana* (*Lib. Pont.*, I, p. CXLVII) which enumerates donations from the second half of the 5th century. Pope Hadrian I (772-95) offered 20 *vela de stauracium* or *tyrea* to each of the Roman titular churches (*Lib. Pont.*, I, p. 504). Pope Paschal I offered a series of *vela* to St. Mary in Domnica, to St. Cecilia in Trastevere, and to St. Mary Major (ibid., II, pp. 55-56, 61). The *vela* were mostly of linen or silk, which in turn assumed particular denominations according to the purity of the fabric (linen pure, *holoserica* = all silk), of inferior quality (*tramosirica*, *subserica* = half-silk or silk derivatives?), and of the applied ornaments (*paragaudata* = gallooned, *loricata*, *auricula paragaudata*, *paragaudata persica*, *rosulata*, *aquilata*, *cantharata*, *holoserica cum cancellis* wonderfully decorated, etc.). Other types, though frequently recurring, are difficult to understand: *vela de stauracium* or *quadrapolis*, or *octapolis*, *de fundato*, etc. The colors also present a great variety: some are common such as white (*albus*), pink (*rhodinus*), green (*prasinus*), and scarlet (*coccus*); others are difficult to determine such as *coccomelinus* (orange? brown?), *coco-prasinus*, *rhodomelinus*, etc.
A certain quality of *vela*, certainly more precious or of a different form from the common ones, were the *paratura*, intended as adornment for great feasts; and the so-called *cortinace*, which in their rich decoration (cf., e.g., *Lib. Pont.*, II, 107, n. 9 ff.) bear witness to the high degree of perfection of Eastern manufactures.
Directly derived from the liturgical use of *vela*, but with purely ornamental intent and in substitution for the real ones, are the large decorations with false drapery on the side walls of basilicas, in the lower zone of the apse and the presbyterium, and in the domes’ calottes. Among the very numerous surviving examples in the East and West, suffice it to mention that of Sta. Maria Antiqua in Rome, where the whole range of ornamental motifs is found that made the fineness of the various domestic and imported products even more precious.