Cosmatesque Columns with Lions and SphinxesVassalletto Workshop

These cloister columns (c.1215), with spiraled shafts and vivid mosaic inlays in the cosmatesque style—a Roman art blending colored marble, glass, and porphyry into geometric patterns—rest on sculpted lions and sphinxes. Crafted by the Vassalletto masters, they unite classical form and Christian meaning, embodying medieval Rome’s vision of divine order through ancient craft.