Pope Hadrian I commissioned the church in its current place and layout around 780, to house relics of Saints Praxedes and Pudentiana. Pope Paschal I enlarged and decorated it, and he built the Chapel of St. Zeno for his mother, Theodora. The infobox gives completion in 822, while the text dates Paschal's work to about 828, after his reign ended in 824. The article names no architect.
The church stands on the remains of a 4th-century Roman bath and measures 148 by 98 feet (45 by 30 m). The infobox gives the style as Byzantine, and the text places Paschal's program within the Carolingian Renaissance. Mosaics cover the apse, apsidal arch and triumphal arch, with Christ flanked by Peter and Paul and Paschal holding a model of the church.
Vallombrosian Benedictines have served it since 1198. It is a minor basilica on Via di Santa Prassede, near Saint Mary Major.

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