Sensory rhodopsin II (SRII) is unique among the archaeal rhodopsins in having an absorption maximum near 500 nm, blue shifted roughly 70 nm from the other pigments. In addition, SRII displays vibronic structure in the lambda(max) absorption band, whereas the other pigments display fully broadened band maxima. The molecular origins responsible for both photophysical properties are examined here with reference to the 2.4 A crystal structure of sensory rhodopsin II (NpSRII) from Natronobacterium pharaonis. We use semiempirical molecular orbital theory (MOZYME) to optimize the chromophore within the chromophore binding site, and MNDO-PSDCI molecular orbital theory to calculate the spectroscopic properties. The entire first shell of the chromophore binding site is included in the MNDO-PSDCI SCF calculation, and full single and double configuration interaction is included for the chromophore pi-system. Through a comparison of corresponding calculations on the 1.55 A crystal structure of bacteriorhodopsin (bR), we identify the principal molecular mechanisms, and residues, responsible for the spectral blue shift in NpSRII. We conclude that the major source of the blue shift is associated with the significantly different positions of Arg-72 (Arg-82 in bR) in the two proteins. In NpSRII, this side chain has moved away from the chromophore Schiff base nitrogen and closer to the beta-ionylidene ring. This shift in position transfers this positively charged residue from a region of chromophore destabilization in bR to a region of chromophore stabilization in NpSRII, and is responsible for roughly half of the blue shift. Other important contributors include Asp-201, Thr-204, Tyr-174, Trp-76, and W402, the water molecule hydrogen bonded to the Schiff base proton. The W402 contribution, however, is a secondary effect that can be traced to the transposition of Arg-72. Indeed, secondary interactions among the residues contribute significantly to the properties of the binding site. We attribute the increased vibronic structure in NpSRII to the loss of Arg-72 dynamic inhomogeneity, and an increase in the intensity of the second excited (1)A(g)(-) -like state, which now appears as a separate feature within the lambda(max) band profile. The strongly allowed (1)B(u)(+)-like state and the higher-energy (1)A(g)(-) -like state are highly mixed in NpSRII, and the latter state borrows intensity from the former to achieve an observable oscillator strength.