The Baptistery of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore holds a polychrome marble funerary monument to Antonio Emanuele Ne Vunda (Antonio Manuel Nsaku ne Vunda), an ambassador sent by King Álvaro II of the Kingdom of Kongo to the Holy See in 1604. After a journey of more than three years that passed through Brazil and Spain, Ne Vunda reached Rome on 3 January 1608 gravely ill and died three days later, before he could formally present his credentials. Pope Paul V, moved by his death, ordered an elaborate funeral and commissioned the monument, which depicts Ne Vunda not in Christian vestments but as an African dignitary in Kongolese dress, wearing the nkutu a nyondo ('bag of power') traditionally worn by Kongo leaders. He is considered the first African ambassador received by a European power.