Pangasinan State University

URDANETA CITY CAMPUS

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & ARCHITECTURE
ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT

HOA 212 – HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 2

RSW MT-01: “EARLY CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE”

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIANITY AND EARLY CHRISTIAN
ARCHITECTURE
2. EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCHES
3. BASILICA CHURCH
4. CONCENTRIC AND CRUCIFORM CHURCHES
5. CONSTANTINIAN MARTYRIES
6. REFERENCES

SANTOS, JERVIN O.                         ARCH. ZALDY FELIX CORPUZ

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           Student                                                                                     Instructor

EARLY CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE

Introduction to Christianity and Christian Architecture: The spread
of Christianity

As implicit in the names of his Epistles, Paul spread Christianity to the Greek and
Roman cities of the ancient Mediterranean world. In cities like Ephesus, Corinth,
Thessalonica, and Rome, Paul encountered the religious and cultural experience of the
Greco Roman world. This encounter played a major role in the formation of Christianity.

The Tomb of St. John the Apostle from the Basilica of St. John, 6th century, Ephesus, near
modern day Selçuk, Turkey

Rotunda of Galerius, later a Christian church, and afterwards a mosque. Today it is known
as the Church of the Rotunda, 4th century CE, Thessaloniki, Greece (photo: George M.
Groutas CC BY 2.0)

Two important moments played a critical role in the development of early Christianity:

 The decision of the Apostle Paul to spread Christianity beyond the Jewish
communities of Palestine into the Greco-Roman world.
 When the Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity and became its patron at the
beginning of the fourth century

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The creation and nature of Christian art were directly impacted by these moments.

Christianity as a mystery cult

Christianity in its first three centuries was one of a large number of mystery religions
that flourished in the Roman world. Religion in the Roman world was divided between the
public, inclusive cults of civic religions and the secretive, exclusive mystery cults. The
emphasis in the civic cults was on customary practices, especially sacrifices. Since the early
history of the polis or city state in Greek culture, the public cults played an important role in
defining civic identity.

Arch of Titus and Colosseum, late 1st century C.E., Rome

As it expanded and assimilated more people, Rome continued to use the public
religious experience to define the identity of its citizens. The polytheism of the Romans
allowed the assimilation of the gods of the people it had conquered.
Thus, when the Emperor Hadrian created the Pantheon in the early second century,
the building's dedication to all the gods signified the Roman ambition of bringing cosmos or
order to the gods, just as new and foreign societies were brought into political order through
the spread of Roman imperial authority. The order of Roman authority on earth is a reflection
of the divine cosmos.

Pantheon, completed 126 C.E., Rome

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 For most adherents of mystery cults, there was no contradiction in participating in
both the public cults and a mystery cult. The different religious experiences appealed to
different aspects of life. In contrast to the civic identity which was at the focus of the public
cults, the mystery religions appealed to the participant's concerns for personal salvation. The
mystery cults focused on a central mystery that would only be known by those who had
become initiated into the teachings of the cult.

Early Christian Architecture

Early Christian architecture grew out of ancient Jewish precedents, which consisted
of religious structures built to solidify Hebrew authority in the ancient land around the eastern
Mediterranean Sea, Canaan, which the Romans called Palestine. However, with the
establishment of Christianity came a need for architectural spaces that could be used by
believers to confirm, assert, and educate others about this new religion. Because Christianity
held great favor among the common man, the earliest congregants rarely had enough
political favor or wealth to build large-scale religious structures. In fact, prior to Constantine's
Edict of Milan in AD 313, the Christian world was private. Christians gathered before altars in
private homes, which came to be called the "house-church" or ecclesia, an ancient Greek
word meaning "gathering of the called-out ones." The remains of a house-church in Dura-
Europos in modern-day Syria demonstrate this early development. The structure was
visually prominent, which probably attests to a lesser degree of persecution at this time than
has traditionally been thought. Many of these early ecclesiae reveal a mingling of early
pagan, Jewish, and Christian symbolism.
   As Christianity came to be increasingly tolerated, congregants began to build non-
residential places of worship. A particularly dramatic growth of the Church occurred with the
Emperor Constantine's acceptance of Christianity in Rome, which effectively ended the "Age
of Persecution" and contributed to the construction of many Christian churches and other
buildings through the 300s, including a home and baptistery for the pope-bishop of Rome.
Hoping to distance themselves from the visual symbolism of the pagan temple, early
Christians selected the Roman government building called the basilica as a model for the
earliest churches, while baptisteries and martyria continued to be circular in format. A good
example of the basilica-plan church is the original Saint Peter's Church in Rome.
it was begun around AD 320 by Constantine, who wanted a large monument to mark the site
where Saint Peter was buried. The church of Santa Sabina, built in Rome around 422,
remains one of the few early Christian churches to retain its original form. This church's
basilica plan, also called a longitudinal plan, has a long, central nave flanked by side aisles.
The nave is taller than the side aisles, allowing a row of clerestory windows in the upper
registers to illuminate the central interior. The entrance, at the western, short end of the
building, orients the visitor in a strongly axial direction down the nave, lined by a colonnade
on either side, toward the high altar, located in a rounded apse at the far end of the nave.
The high altar is elevated from the nave floor, demarking the choir area as the most sacred
space in the church. While the exterior of Santa Sabina is a simple brick construction devoid
of applied decoration, the interior reveals marble flooring and a nave arcade of round arches
with fluted marble Corinthian columns. The nave also had now-lost murals or mosaics in the
register above the arcade and beneath the clerestory windows.
The circular church, also called the centrally planned church, was originally based on
the ancient tholos, used as a funerary structure, the Christian context was often also
funerary in function. The earliest surviving circular church is a mausoleum built around AD
340 for Constantina, the daughter of Constantine. Now called Santa Costanza, the church
consists of a central domed area surrounded by a barrel-vaulted walkway called an
ambulatory. The round arched colonnade that separates the ambulatory from the central
area features a double layer of Composite columns. Marble and mosaics cover the interior
walls and ambulatory ceiling. In Constantinople, the Emperor Constantine's funerary church

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was constructed as a centrally planned church with four equal arms, called a Greek-cross
plan. With the fall of Rome, the Roman Empire moved first to Milan and then to Ravenna, an
east-coast city important in Ancient Rome for its naval base and direct route to
Constantinople. Therefore, Christian architecture in Ravenna exhibited a strong eastern
influence that came to be called the Byzantine style. The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in
Ravenna dates to around 425 and was constructed as a Greek-cross-plan funerary
monument for the half-sister of Emperor Honorius. Byzantine-style mosaics appear in the
interior of the building, commemorating the martyrdom of Saint Lawrence. Once the city of
Ravenna was captured by the Byzantine army of Emperor Justinian I in 540 from Arian
Christian Ostrogoths who had lived in the city since 476, artistic influences reversed
direction, stemming the transmittal of Roman culture into Constantinople, and instead
bringing a fuller Byzantine style into Italy, a style that lasted there through the early years of
the Renaissance.

Historical Background: Early Christian Architecture

The first Christian architects set out to compose spaces which imitated and intimated
that universe in both transcendent and symbolic terms. In churches, memorials, and shrines
they sought to capture and expound the central convictions of faith, and that quest set
Christian architecture apart from the architecture of the past. Not only were congregations
given places for assembly and worship; more important, the buildings scaled down and
made viable the abstract immensity of the fundamentals declared by the new religion, and
each visual element, whether decorative or more purely architectural, was played to that
end. During the fourth and fifth centuries, as dogma and liturgy were given authoritative
form, dispositions of shapes and spaces were created which prefigured nearly the entire
repertory of Christian building. The majestic architecture of the Greco-Roman world was
succeeded by an architecture which proposed an entirely different purpose and meaning.
Yet early Christian and Byzantine architecture inevitably evolved many forms, visual effects,
and structural solutions from those already in existence, and it can be comprehended only if
that background is taken into consideration.
The Early Christian architecture started in two prominent locations centered at Rome
and Constantinople. It occurred in Rome and areas around Rome. From the two focal points
Early Christian architecture spread to other areas in the European and Asian regions.
The formulation phase of Christianity & its architecture can be considered from
Constantine period (300 AD) to Charlemagne (800 AD – French ruler).
The development of Christian Architecture thus can be divided into the following
phases:

In these phases, architectural development experienced the formulation phase,

alterations & development in plans, profile surroundings & concluded with imitation of
classical structures & mannerism. The development of Christian architecture in general
proved beneficial in establishing new norms, new construction features, new materials,
different types of façade treatments & also versatile construction analysis. The phases
proved beneficial not only for the religious architecture but also for secular, domestic,
commercial & Mediterranean development.

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 EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCHES

Domus ecclesiae: The Primitive House of Prayer

The first disciples used to gather in private homes. During the first century of
Christianity, the congregation would assemble on Sunday at sunrise for prayer, and toward
evening there was a meal (agape) recalling the Jewish meal on the Eve of the Sabbath. This
evening ritual began with a blessing over the breaking of the bread and ended with a second
blessing over a cup of wine. Prayers were offered either during or after the meal, hymns
were sung, or at times a spiritual discourse evolved. Since at the core of the service was the
meal, the given place of the meeting would be the dining room, shaped like a triclinium,
sometimes located on the upper floor in typical houses of the lower and middle classes. By
200 CE a rich and clear liturgy had already evolved, while the common meal had been
relegated to rare occasions: meals offered to the poor called agapai, or funeral and memorial
banquets (refrigeria). The regular service consisted of two parts: the first is called the
“Liturgy of the Word” was attended by both faithful and catechumens (Mass of the
Catechumens), and comprised scriptural readings, a sermon, and common prayer; the
second part is called “Mass of the Faithful” began after the dismissal of the catechumens. It
consisted of three parts: the introduction of the offerings for the Sacrifice which later evolved
into the Great Entrance; the Sacrifice proper — the Eucharist; and the distribution of the
communion. The assembly room was no longer a dining room; it had to be large, easily
accessible, and divided between clergy and laymen. Other activities, such as charity,
welfare, administration, storage, etc., needed proper spaces as well. By 250, Christianity had
much expanded, penetrating into the upper classes as well. The congregations in each
province had become increasingly organized under a hierarchy of ordained clergy —
bishops, presbyters, and deacons — and owned property to serve their social and religious
needs. By the persecutions of 250 and 257–60, Christians clearly had houses of prayer. To
judge from the archaeological record, during the first 250 to 300 years Christians did not
have a house of prayer of a definitive shape, easily recognizable at a glance from the
outside. In cities, towns, and in the countryside, Christians assembled in inconspicuous
private dwellings that were adapted to serve the religious and other manifold needs of the
congregation. Such a house is known in the scholarly literature as domus ecclesiae. Its size
and installations reflect the status of the congregation and liturgical requirements. The
Christian house in Dura Europos, on the Euphrates, is of this type. It comprises several
rooms: a dining room and a baptismal hall with an antechamber and an exedra, surrounding
a central courtyard with a water cistern under its floor. There was also a staircase leading to
a second story. Murals depicting Christ as the good shepherd and several episodes of his
life and death were preserved on the walls of the baptistery. It was abandoned in 252, as a
result of a Sassanian incursion. The domestic character of the fourth-century domus
ecclesiae at Capernaum, on the Sea of Galilee, is clearly evident from Egeria’s account
(381–84 CE): ‘in Capernaum the house of the prince of the apostles (St Peter) has been
made into a church, with its original walls still standing. Its remains were uncovered under
the octagonal church at the site, erected in c. 450 CE. Extending over an almost square,
walled insula, with an entrance from the north, this modest structure comprised several small
roofed rooms and two courtyards. The assembly room is a central part of the structure. In
the late fourth century, a southwest arch was constructed across the middle of the room,
providing a larger space relative to the regular rooms. The arch and the walls were coated in
coloured plaster, with floral but no human or animal representations. Several graffiti in
Greek, Aramaic, and Syriac have been preserved on the plaster, attesting to its Christian

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religious character. Some mention the names of Christ and Peter. The room also had a
polychrome floor, and the strong mortar roof was supported by the arch. An atrium with white
plastered pavement extends on the east. The house of Cornellius at Caesarea might have
also preserved its domestic character when it was converted into a church, and the house of
Philip and his four virgin daughters there was frequented by pilgrims (Hier. Ep. 108.8). At
about that same time (the end of the fourth century) Epiphanius, in the village of Anautha
near Bethel, found it difficult to recognize a church as such from the outside. It seems that
the installation of churches in dwellings was still widespread, the house of Peter at
Capernaum not being a unique case. Christian houses of prayer still maintained their
domestic character, a fact we must bear in mind when counting fourthcentury churches or
chapels.

A New Architecture

A new type of more elaborately shaped Christian architecture seems to have already
begun developing in the East in the years of tolerance known as the ‘small peace’ (260–
303), between the persecutions of Decius and those of Diocletian. Eusebius, a native of
Syria Palaestina, tells us that ‘Christians, not content with their old buildings, erected from
the ground up spacious churches in all the cities. In 287, when Diocletian erected his palace
at Nicomedia, an impressive Christian meeting house on a nearby hill was overlooking the
palace. A church, or meeting house (ekklesia) in Caesarea, housing a sanctuary or altar, is
mentioned by Eusebius (himself a Caesarean) in his narrative of the martyrdom of Marinus.
No such pre-Constantinian church has been discovered to date in our region, but
these ‘spacious churches’ perhaps inspired the cathedral of Paulinus, the bishop of Tyre,
described in detail by Eusebius, erected sometime between 314 and 317, before
Constantine conquered the East. It was surrounded by an enclosure wall, with an entrance
gate (propylon) facing east leading to an atrium (aithrion) completely surrounded by four
porticoes (stoai), with wooden barriers of latticework between the columns. In the courtyard
there were fountains enabling those proceeding farther into the sacred precinct to cleanse
themselves. The church proper, facing east, was entered via three gates, the central one,
decorated with appliqués with metal embossed work (paragêmata), being much higher and
broader than the flanking ones. Ornamented porches extended in front of each gate. An
opening above, adorned with fine carved wood, permitted the entry of additional light. The
basilica (basileios oikos) was furnished with an abundance of rich materials: the ceiling was
of timber — Lebanon cedars; inside were lofty thrones in honour of the bishops and
benches, ranged in order, for the clergy; the altar (thusiasterion) was located in the middle,
between the seats of the clergy, and its area was fenced off by a wooden lattice; the floor
was of splendid marble. On the outside were exedras and large buildings, attached to the
sides of the basilica and connected by passages to the central church. We may thus
conclude that basilican halls were already adopted for Christian churches in the region under
discussion before the building projects of Constantine, and that these early basilicas faced
east. Such also was the orientation of Constantine’s Lateran Cathedral in Rome and his
other Christian basilicas there, mostly coemeteria. Such orientation had prevailed in the
West until 420; placing the apse and altar in the eastern side became an established
practice only later. In the East this had already occurred in the fourth century. Of the four
Constantinian churches, only the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre (‘the martyrion of
Constantine’) faces east; all the rest have their entrance facade on the west.

FROM AGORA TO BASILICAN CHURCH

• Greece –
• • Agora (Assembly or gathering place)
• • Served as a marketplace

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 • Rome –
• • Forums – centre Roman public life

• • Venue for public speeches, criminal trials & gladiatorial matches.

• • Basilica – part of Forum.
• • Served as place for giving justice & transacting business.
• • The layout of Basilicas was, by extension used for Christian churches, having the
same form.

Temple of Portunus (formerly known as, Fortuna Virilis)

The Temple of Portunus is a well preserved late second or early first century B.C.E.
rectangular temple in Rome, Italy. Its dedication to the God Portunus—a divinity associated
with livestock, keys, and harbors—is fitting given the building’s topographical position near
the ancient river harbor of the city of Rome.
The city of Rome during its Republican phase was characterized, in part, by
monumental architectural dedications made by leading, elite citizens, often in connection
with key political or military accomplishments. Temples were a particularly popular choice in
this category given their visibility and their utility for public events both sacred and secular.
The Temple of Portunus is located adjacent to a circular temple of the Corinthian
order, now attributed to Herakles Victor. The assignation of the Temple of Portunus has
been debated by scholars, with some referring to the temple as belonging to Fortuna Virilis
(an aspect of the God Fortuna). This is now a minority view. The festival in honor of
Portunus (the Portunalia) was celebrated on 17 August.

Temple’s Plan and Construction

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 The temple has a rectangular footprint, measuring roughly 10.5 x 19 meters (36 x 62
Roman feet). Its plan may be referred to as pseudoperipteral, instead of a having a free-
standing colonnade, or row of columns, on all four sides, the temple instead only has free-
standing columns on its facade with engaged columns on its flanks and rear.

The pronoas  (porch) of the temple supports an Ionic colonnade measuring four
columns across by two columns deep, with the columns carved from travertine. The Ionic
order can be most easily seen in the scroll-shaped capitals.There are five engaged columns
on each side, and four across the back. Overall the building has a composite structure, with
both travertine and tufa being used for the superstructure (tufa is a type of stone consisting
of consolidated volcanic ash, and travertine is a form of limestone). A stucco coating would
have been applied to the tufa, giving it an appearance closer to that of the travertine.
The temple’s design incorporates elements from several architectural traditions. From the
Italic tradition it takes its high podium (one ascends stairs to enter the pronaos), and strong
frontality. From Hellenistic architecture comes the Ionic order columns, the engaged pilasters
and columns.
The use of permanent building materials, stone (as opposed to the Italic custom of
superstructures in wood, terracotta, and mudbrick), also reflects changing practices. The
temple itself represents the changing realities and shifting cultural landscape of the
Mediterranean world at the close of the first millennium B.C.E. The temple of Portunus
resides on the Forum Boarium, a public space that
was the site of the primary harbor of Rome. While
the temple of Portunus is a bit smaller than other
temples in the Forum Boarium and the adjacent
Forum Holitorium, it fits into a general typology of
Late Republican temple building.
The temple of Portunus finds perhaps its
closest contemporary parallel in the Temple of the
Sibyl at Tibur (modern Tivoli) which dates c. 150-
125 B.C.E. The temple type embodied by the
Temple of Portunus may also be found in Iulio-
Claudian temple buildings such as the Maison
Carrée at Nîmes in southern France.

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Temple of the Sibyl, Tivoli, c. 150-125 B.C.E.

Preservation and current State

Andrea Palladio, Temple of Fortuna Virilis, engraving from The Four Books of
Architecture, London, Isaac Ware, 1738

The Temple of Portunus is obviously in

an excellent state of preservation. In 872 C.E.
the ancient temple was re-dedicated as a
Christian shrine sacred to Santa Maria
Egyziaca (Saint Mary of Egypt), leading to the
preservation of the structure. The architecture
has inspired many artists and architects over
the centuries, including Andrea Palladio who
studied the structure in the sixteenth century.
Neo-Classical architects were inspired
by the form of the Temple of Portunus and it
led to the construction of the Temple of
Harmony, a folly in Somerset, England, dating
to 1767 (below).
The Temple of Portunus is important
not only for its well preserved architecture and
the inspiration that architecture has fostered,
but also as a reminder of what the built
landscape of Rome was once like – dotted with
temples large and small that became foci of a
great deal of activity in the life of the city.
Those temples that survive are reminders of
that vibrancy as well as of the architectural
traditions of the Romans themselves.

The Temple of Harmony, 1767, Halswell House, Somserset, England

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Backstory

The Temple of Portunus was put on the World Monuments Watch list in 2006.
Overseen by the World Monuments Fund, this list highlights “cultural heritage sites around
the world that are at risk from the forces of nature or the impact of social, political, and
economic change,” providing them with “an opportunity to attract visibility, raise public
awareness, foster local engagement in their protection, leverage new resources for
conservation, advance innovation, and demonstrate effective solutions.”
Together with the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma and grants from private
funders, the World Monuments Fund sponsored a restoration of the Temple of Portunus
beginning in 2000. The temple had been partially restored and conservation measures put in
place in the 1920s, but the activities undertaken in the last two decades utilized the latest
technologies to complete a full restoration of the interior and exterior of the building. This
included the cleaning and conservation of the frescoes, replacement of the roof
(incorporating ancient roof tiles), anti-seismic measures, and the cleaning and restoration of
the pediment, columns, and exterior walls. The newly-restored temple opened to the public
in 2014.
The Temple of Portunus is one of the best-preserved examples of Roman
Republican architecture, and efforts like those of the World Monuments Fund are ensuring
that it continues to survive intact.-backstory by Dr. Naraelle Hohensee

Portunus-

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TWO BASIC CHURCHES TYPES

1. Longitudinal church - Basilica

2. Centralized church - Martyria
Basilica Church
The term Basilica originally denoted anything kingly or lordly .The basilica was also
preferred because of the emphasis on participation in mass. The basic characteristics of a
basilica in terms of a place of worship are: a rectangular ground plan divided longitudinally
into three or five aisles by columns which support the roof. The roof above the middle aisle
(the nave) is raised above the adjacent aisles (one or two aisles in both sides of a central
nave and an apse at one end facing the principal entrance located at the other end) so that
its supporting walls have openings for air and light. A half dome projects beyond the
rectangular plan.
The architecture of the church that developed was not a completely new style, but
the use of available Roman form to satisfy a new program need. The form chosen for the
early church was the Roman basilica. It was suitable for use as a church with no serious
modification and it could be easily and rapidly built at low cost.

Typical Basilican Church

It is the commonest form of the early church. Unlike the earlier Roman phase, the
interiors were given more importance than exterior. It has rectangular hall, timber-roofed with
coffers & richlyglided ceiling (hiding the roof truss) on nave. Usually with one or two aisles to
each side of the central nave separated by rows of rustic marble columns, sometimes
carrying flat entablatures & sometimes, rows of arches. The width of aisles was half that of
the central nave. The apse at one end facing the principal entrances at the other end.
Bema / Transept –a raised platform where altar was placed & from where the clergy

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officiated. A courtyard (atrium) having a central fountain for ablutions & surrounded by
colonnaded ambulatory.

Plan of a Typical EC Basilica

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Interior Exterior

Coffers in ceiling Entablature

Apse Atrium

Bema / Transept

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  A narthex – corresponding to entrance foyer, preceding the nave.
 The nave & bema receive light from clerestory above the aisles & were pierced with
windows.
 Above aisles & between clerestory windows, the walls may be faced with marble, or
mosaics made up from small tesserae of coloured glass.
 The nave terminates into a ‘triumphal arch’, perhaps having iridescent (brightly
coloured & changing) mosaics.
 The semicircular walls of the apse ended into a dome, whose interiors had mosaics
depicting narrative scenes from Bible or single figures seen against stylised
landscapes or plain gold grounds.
 The flooring was of grey-white & black marble, inlaid with geometric patterns of
coloured marble.
 The columns, capitals & similar features from old Roman buildings were frequently
reused to enhance the liveliness of the interiors.
 In the new churches, arches were more often used to span between columns of a
colonnade instead of flat entablatures.

Plan Views of Early Christian Churches

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(A) St. Lorenzo, Rome; (B) Basilica in Suweda, Syria; (C) Basilica Ursiana, Ravenna; (D) St. Paul's,
Rome.

(E) Xenodochium of Pammachius, Porto; (F) St. Maria Maggiore, Rome; (G) Basilica in Kalb-Luseh,
Syria.

Exterior and Interior Views of Early Churches

Basilica in Turmanin, Syria Basilica in Kalb-Luseh, Syria

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St. Apollinare in Nuovo, Ravenna. Sixth century St. George, Ezra, Syria

Basilica of Old St. Peters . Rome

Present day St. Peters in Vatican City – a rebuilding of a totally different design & on
a substantially enlarged scale. Built over the historical site of the Circus of Nero under the
rule of Emperor Constantine I in c. 320AD The original church survived without much change
until towards the end of 15th Century & the nave for another century.Remains of old
foundation are present below the present flooring but details of atrium are obscure.

Dimensions: 110.0m long x 64.0m wide with double aisles on both sides. The nave was
divided from aisles by 22 varied (size & colour), huge & antique marble columns with equally
varied capitals supporting the nave walls on a horizontal entablature, while similar numbers
of shorter columns carrying arcades divided aisle from aisle. It was built in the shape of Latin
cross, with a gable roof, timbered on inside & at 30.0m high at centre. An atrium known as
Garden of Paradise stood at the entrance with5 doors. The nave ended with an arch & the
walls had parallel windows each with frescos.

Plan of Old St. Peter Basilica, Rome (c. 320)

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St. Peters ,Rome (AD 333)

Exterior Arial View

Interior

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S. Giovanni in Laterano church of the lateran (AD 313-320)

A typical example of the early Christian church is S. Giovanni in Laterano Rome.

• It was the first church commissioned by Emperor Constantine.
• It was built as the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome It was remodeled several times.
• The church consists of a central nave flanked by two narrow isles and separated from them
by a monumental colonnade.
• The central nave rose above the isle roof, and the inner isle rose above the outer.
• The nave terminated at an apse. The structure was of brick faced concrete covered with
simple truss timber roof.

Exterior

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Interior

Santa Sabina, Rome, 5th century

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History
Santa Sabina was built by Peter of Illyria, a Dalmatian priest, between 422 and 432
near a temple of Juno on the Aventine Hill in Rome. The church was built on the site of early
Imperial houses, one of which is said to be of Sabina, a Roman matron originally from
Avezzano in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Sabina was beheaded under the Emperor
Vespasian, or perhaps Hadrian, because she had been converted to Christianity by her
servant Seraphia, who was stoned to death. She was later declared a Christian saint.
In the 9th century, it was enclosed in a fortification area. The interior was largely
renovated by Domenico Fontana in 1587 and by Francesco Borromini in 1643. Italian
architect and art historian Antonio Muñoz restored the original medieval appearance of the
church (which had served as a lazaretto since 1870). The bell tower was built in the 10th
century and remade in the Baroque period.
The church was the seat of a papal conclave in 1287, although the prelates left the
church after an epidemic had killed six of them. They returned to the church only on 1288
February, electing Nicholas IV as pope

Exterior
The exterior of the church, with its large windows made of selenite, not glass, looks
much as it did when it was built in the 5th century.
The wooden door of the basilica is
generally agreed to be the original door from
430–432, although it was apparently not
constructed for this doorway. Eighteen of its
wooden panels survive — all but one depicting
scenes from the Bible. Most famous among
these is one of the earliest certain depictions of
Christ's crucifixion, although other panels have
also been the subjects of extensive analysis
because of their importance for the study of
Christian iconography.
Above the doorway, the interior
preserves an original dedication in Latin
hexameters.
The campanile (bell tower) dates from the 10th century.

Interior
The original fifth-century apse mosaic was replaced
in 1559 by a very similar fresco by Taddeo Zuccari. The
composition probably remained unchanged: Christ is
flanked by a good thief and a bad thief, seated on a hill
while lambs drink from a stream at its base. The
iconography of the mosaic was very similar to another 5th-
century mosaic, destroyed in the 17th century, in
Sant'Andrea in Catabarbara. An interesting feature of the
interior is a framed hole in the floor, exposing a Roman era
temple column that pre-dates Santa Sabina. This appears
to be the remnant of the Temple of Juno erected on the
hilltop site during Roman times, which was likely razed to
allow construction of the basilica. The tall, spacious nave
has twenty four columns of Proconnesian marble with
perfectly matched Corinthian capitals and bases, which
were reused from the Temple of Juno.

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 The interior cells of the Dominican convent are little
changed since the earliest days of the Order of Preachers.
The cell of St. Dominic is still identified, though it has since
been enlarged and converted to a chapel. Also, the
original dining room still remains, in which St. Thomas
Aquinas would dine when he lived in Rome.

Doors of Santa Sabina

The doors on the exterior of Santa Sabina are made of cypress wood, and originally
had a layout of twenty-eight panels. Out of these panels, ten of the original have been lost,
and are left without ornamentation.
Seventeen out of the original remaining eighteen panels depict a scene from the Old
Testament or the New Testament, leaving one panel that does not directly correlate to a
Biblical story. This panel, found near the bottom of the door, depicts an homage to a man
wearing a chlamys, and is thought to depict a historical
event relating to a powerful ruler, though the exact story
depicted is unknown. One of the smaller top panels
depicts the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and two other
figures in front of a building that alludes to the
architecture of a Roman mausoleum; this panel is the
first known publicly displayed image of the crucifixion of
Christ. The panels are carved in two distinct styles, one
including more detail and adherence to the style of
classical art, and one adopting a simpler style, indicating
that several artists may have worked on the doors. The
abstract vegetal designs on the panels' frames are
consistent with a Mesopotamian style, suggesting the
origin of at least one of the artists was from this region.
Due to the cramped composition of the panels
and the thin outer frame, it is likely that the door was
originally bigger, and then cut down to fit into the frame of Santa Sabina. This makes it
unclear as to whether the door was initially intended to be used for this specific structure; it
may have been designed for a different Roman building with larger doorway dimensions, but
then been transferred to Santa Sabina for unknown reasons. However, the door was most
likely constructed near the same time as the erection of the Church of Santa Sabina in 432,
as the powerful figure in the chlamys scene carving shares stylistic similarities with
depictions of Theodosius II, the emperor at the time of the consecration of Santa Sabina.
Dendrochronologic and radiocarbon dating confirmed that the wood used for the door panels
is from the beginning of the 5th century, therefore the carvings could date from the reigns of
Celestine I (421–431) or Sixtus III (431–440).

Depiction of the crucifixion on the wooden door of

Santa Sabina. This is one of the earliest surviving
depictions of the crucifixion of Christ.

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 Concentric and Cruciform Churches
Typologically, the concentric martyries, deriving their inspiration from the circular rotunda of
the Holy Sepulchre or the octagon of the Church of the Nativity, can be divided into two
subtypes: circular and octagonal. The cruciform churches are a type apart. The cross shape
could remain free or be inscribed within a square or a rectangle. A transept basilica can be
considered as a subtype.

Circular. Two churches belong to this group: the Ascension, erected between 392 and 395
by the rich matron Poemenia, and the church on top of Tel Beth Shean (fifth or sixth
century). According to Arculf, the Ascension had three concentric porticos surrounding a
central unroofed area in which Christ’s footprint was shown to pilgrims. The circular church
on the summit of Tel Beth Shean had a single circular portico surrounding a courtyard, and a
deep apse with a bema on the east. In addition to these two, the upper church above the
Virgin’s Tomb was a ‘mirabilis rotunda structa’ according to Arculf. Vincent had
reconstructed instead an octagonal church with a circular ambulatory, but this is
hypothetical.

However, the octagonal shape of two other churches of the;Theotokos — the Kathisma, and
that on Mount Gerizim (see below) — may lend some credence to such a reconstruction. A
large crowd of Monophysite monks had gathered in the church of the Virgin’s Tomb in 451,
in protest against Juvenal’s doctrinal policy at Chalcedon. In this church Juvenal confronted
this opposition as he returned to claim his throne from Theodosius, who had seized it. By
that date it was already standing; Shalev maintains that it was constructed after the Council
of Ephesus (431) and should therefore be dated to 431–450.

Octagonal- Four churches belong to this group: Capernaum (mid-fifth century), the
Kathisma (c. 456, erected by the rich matron Ikelia), Mount Gerizim (484, erected by
Emperor Zeno), and Caesarea. If the Virgin’s Tomb was octagonal, as suggested by
Vincent, it would be the earliest martyry of this type after the octagon of the Nativity,
preceding the Kathisma by several years. Capernaum, the Kathisma, and Mount Gerizim are
of the three-concentricoctagons type. But whereas in the first church the outer octagon
contained an external portico, such a feature is absent from the other two. Other features in
common to these two are four internal chapels on the diagonal sides of the external octagon
and a deep apse and bema on the east side, open to the ambulatory. Both are also
dedicated to St Mary Theotokos. The introduction of an apse on the east to a concentric
martyry (also encountered in the circular type on Tel Beth Shean) added another focal point,
off the geometrical centre. It can be dated to early in the second half of the fifth century. The
apsidal space on the east side at Capernaum is not of this kind, being detached from the
ambulatory and including a baptistery. Another feature setting it aside is that it has no
diagonal chapels. The plan of the octagonal church of Caesarea is based on two octagons
inserted in a square.

Cruciform churches. A cruciform structure is a Christian innovation, inspired by the

Apostles Church built by Constantine in Constantinople to serve as his burial site. Three
churches were of this type: Jacob’s Well near Shechem/Neapolis, the Eudoxiana in Gaza,
and the Virgin’s Tomb (the lower, rock-cut church) in Gethsemane (the upper church was

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concentric, or octagonal, as noted above). The cruciform plan of Jacob’s Well is known only
from Arculf (c. 670 CE). It had already been visited by Paula (Hier. Ep. 108.13), but in the
absence of archaeological evidence it is not known whether it had assumed this shape at
that time. The church of Gaza was built by order of Empress Eudoxia over the Temple of
Marnas, which was dismantled. She had sent a drawn cruciform plan of the church and 69
provided the necessary resources and materials — thirty-two precious columns and
Karystos marble. Rufinus, an architect from Antioch, was engaged by Bishop Porphyrius to
build the church (V. Porph. 75–79; 83–84; 92).

Transept basilicas. In terms of internal space, a transept basilica is a subtype of a

cruciform church — a cross inscribed in a rectangle. To this group belongs only the basilica
of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes at Tabgha. A basilica with an apsidal transept
is a variant. To the Justinianic phase of the Church of the Nativity, and the as yet
unexcavated western church at Rehovot in-the-Negev mentioned by Ovadiah, we can add
now the Be’er Sheva church, and the Martyr’s Church on Tel Iztaba. The roofing of the
concentric and cruciform churches was light, in the early Christian tradition: pyramidal or
conical, with tiles set on a wooden substructure.

Masonry domes were already applied in Roman architecture. The circular Marneon at Gaza
had an inflated dome (kiborion), and even small pendentive domes were already applied in
the region under discussion during the Roman period (second and third centuries CE) in
tombs, thermae, kalybe, and propylea. Nevertheless, heavy domes of stones, scoria, or brick
were not applied in the churches of Palestine and Syria prior to the period of Justinian, and
even thereafter, although being typical in Byzantine architecture, they were very rare in
those countries, earthquakes apparently being the major reason for this. Wooden domes
seem to have preceded stone or concrete/scoria ones. The St 74 Sergius Church in Gaza
had a squinch dome, though it is not said of what material (Choricius of Gaza, Laud. Marc.
I.38).

The Constantinian Martyries

Historical Background
The four Constantinian martyries — the first Christian churches in the Holy Land —
do not follow a single pattern. Like the cathedral in Tyre, the basilican hall was adopted as a
standard assembly hall. The Eleona church had the simplest plan: a nave with a projecting
apse on its east, flanked by two aisles. On the west there was an atrium with a water cistern
underneath. The church at Mamre, constructed within a rectangular Herodian/Hadrianic
pagan compound, was preserved only in the foundation level. It was a simple basilica, with
transept aisles (or simple rooms) on the east. To its west, a long corridor, extending north–
south across the compound, served as a narthex. The two other basilicas (at Bethlehem,
and the Holy Sepulchre) had two aisles flanking the nave on each side; the last mentioned,
which also had galleries above the aisle, was a huge basilica. The incorporation of the locus
sanctus within each complex was different in every case. At Mamre, two-thirds of the
compound to the west of the basilica served as a vast courtyard, containing the sacred
terebinth and the well.
In Eleona, the sacred cave in which Christ instructed his disciples was under the
bema. The bema itself was considerably elevated above the nave floor: two staircases of
seven steps led up from the nave to the northwest and southwest corners (the normal
elevation of the bema is just two or three steps). Two other staircases led down from the
nave into the cave. At Bethlehem an octagon, not just an apse, was constructed above the
Nativity Cave. The octagon (in place of the bema and apse) was attached to the basilica on
the east; its floor was elevated to a height of three steps, and a round opening in its centre
permitted the cave to be seen. The ambulatories around this opening were connected on the
west to the two inner aisles. This arrangement (like the double staircase in the Eleona)

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permitted convenient movement of pilgrims, yet caring for their needs came at the expense
of the regular daily service, focused on the altar and bema. This difficulty was solved in a
most satisfactory manner in the complex of the Holy Sepulchre, where the basilica was
separated from the concentric structure above the sepulchre. In between was a courtyard
with porticoes on the north, east, and south. The basilica, with an atrium provided with
exedras to its east, was known as the martyry (martyrium) of Constantine, and the
concentric structure as the Anastasis, i.e., Resurrection. In the consecration feast of the
church (14 September 335 CE), the burial cave (in a rock that was detached by stone-cutting
from the hill of which it formed a part) was placed in the middle of an open esplanade. In
later decades this unroofed area was covered by a concentric structure, polygonal on the
outside and circular on the inside. The sepulchre, in the centre, was surrounded by a circle
of twelve columns, arranged in four groups of three, set between four pairs of pilasters.
Three deep apses were installed in the ambulatories opposite the western, northern, and
southern pairs of pilasters. To the front, on the east, was a portico.
The concentric type of structure adopted by Constantine to mark the two major
sacred sites of Christianity seems to have derived its inspiration from imperial Roman
mausolea, such as the octagonal mausoleum of Diocletian in Spoleto/Split, or the circular
mausoleum of Galerius in Thessalonica. This type of structure was adopted for the tombs of
two members of Constantine’s family — his mother Helena and his daughter Constanza,
both in Rome. In addition to sepulchral architecture, concentric structures were also known
in palatial buildings and in Roman thermae.
The separation between basilica and martyry manifested in the Holy Sepulchre was
later abandoned. From the second half of the fourth century onward, regular basilicas served
as martyries, in addition to being regular prayer halls, and vice versa — concentric structures
housing a sacred object in their centre (or elsewhere), were also used as parish churches for
the daily service. After the mid-fifth century a deep apse with a bema toward its front was
added on the east side of the concentric building, adding a second focus and enabling the
daily service to be conducted more conveniently. The ambulatory in these structures
enabled the pilgrims to move around conveniently. The Eleona set the pattern of placing
sacred objects in a crypt under the bema. This was applied only in few cases (Horvat
Berachot, Rehovot in-theNegev, Gaza Nuzeirat), but in a more convenient manner: the crypt
was set deeper underground, enabling a bema of normal elevation, and the staircases were
moved to the aisles rather than descending from the nave. The disturbance to the regular
service due to pilgrims’ circulation was thus minimized. Such crypts were associated with the
cult of martyrs, a secondary cult that had evolved inside the church.

Alternative Church Form

 The rectangular basilica was not the only form adopted for the early church
 Alternative more centralized plans, with a focus on a central vertical axis
rather than a longitudinal horizontal one were also adopted occasionally. The
centralized churches were of two broad types.
 They were the completely circular church.
 These had a circular or octagonal space surrounded by an ambulatory .
Examples of these include Saint ConstanzaRome, the lateran Baptistery
Rome and Saint Stefano Rotondo.

The Baptistery of Constantine, Rome (A.D. 430–440)

Historical Background
The sacramental importance and sometimes architectural splendor of the baptistry
reflect the importance of baptism to Christians. The octagonal plan of the Lateran Baptistery,

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the first structure expressly built as a baptistry, provided a widely-followed model, which
might be twelve-sided, or even circular as at Pisa. In a narthex or anteroom the
catechumens were instructed and made their confession of faith before baptism. The main
interior space centered upon the baptismal font (piscina), in which those to be baptized were
immersed thrice. Three steps led down to the floor of the font, and over it might be
suspended a gold or silver dove. The iconography of frescos or mosaics on the walls were
commonly of the scenes in the life of Saint John the Baptist. The font was at first always of
stone, but latterly metals were often used. The Lateran baptistery's font was fed by a natural
spring. When the site had been the palatial dwelling of the Laterani, before Constantine
presented it to Bishop Miltiades, the spring formed the water source for the numerous
occupants of the domus. It will be quickly apprehended that as the requirements for Christian
baptisteries expanded, Christianization of sacred pagan springs presented natural
opportunities. Cassiodorus, in a letter written in A.D. 527, described a fair held at a former
pagan shrine of Leucothea, in the still culturally Greek region of south Italy, which had been
Christianized by converting it to a baptistery (Variae 8.33). In a paper read in 1999, Samuel
J. Barnish drew examples of the transition from miraculous springs to baptisteries from
Gregory of Tours (died c. 594) and Maximus, bishop of Turin (died c. 466). It was built near
the Lateran Church by Sixtus III, and not by Constantine to whom it is generally attributed, is
among the oldest of Italian baptisteries, of which it was probably the model. It is octagonal in
shape according to plan. The roof is supported by a two-storeyed ring of eight porphyry and
marble columns taken from old pagan buildings, while in the centre is an old Roman bath of
green basalt converted into a font.

Round Alternative Form (St Constanza)

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Historical Background
Santa Costanza is a 4th-century round church in Rome with well-preserved original
layout and mosaics. It has been built adjacent to a horseshoe-shaped church, now in ruins,
which has been identified as the initial 4th-century cemeterial basilica of Saint Agnes. Santa
Costanza and the old Saint Agnes were both constructed over the earlier catacombs in
which Saint Agnes is believed to be buried.
According to the traditional view, Santa Costanza was built under Constantine I as a
mausoleum for his daughter Constantina, later also known as Constantia or Costanza, who
died in AD 354. However, more recent excavations seem to date the existing church to the
time of Emperor Julian (r. 361-363), who would have built it as a funerary structure for his
wife, Helena, who died in AD 360, and was herself also a daughter of Emperor Constantine.
The original structure containing the tomb of Helena might be located underneath the
current church. That could suggest that the current church is the second Christian building
on the site, and may be some decades later than traditionally thought, being built as a
mausoleum for Constantina's sister Helena in the reign of her husband Julian the Apostate.
The larger of the two porphyry sarcophagi there would belong to Helena, and the smaller to
Constantina, the opposite of what has been traditionally thought. The earlier triconch building
of the 330s was probably indeed built for Constantina, but she later had to take second place
to her sister; as Constantina's fame as a saintly figure developed in the Middle Ages, their
roles became reversed in the popular mind.
The mausoleum is of circular form with an ambulatory surrounding a central dome.
The fabric of Santa Costanza survives in essentially its original form. Despite the loss of the
coloured stone veneers of the walls, some damage to the mosaics and incorrect restoration,
the building stands in excellent condition as a prime example of Early Christian art and
architecture. The vaults of the apses and ambulatory display well preserved examples of
Late Roman mosaics. A key component which is missing from the decorative scheme is the
mosaic of the central dome. In the sixteenth-century, watercolours were made of this central
dome so the pictorial scheme can be hypothetically reconstructed. The large porphyry
sarcophagus of either Constantina or her sister Helena has survived intact, and is now in the
Vatican Museum - an object of great significance to the study of the art of Late Antiquity.

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 The mausoleum once held a large porphyry sarcophagus, known as the
Sarcophagus of Constantina, now in the Vatican Museum. A replica now stands in its place.
This sarcophagus may have been made for Constantine's daughter, Constantina. This
seems to be the best theory, although Karl Lehmann (1955) identified a number of problems
with it, related to Constantina's location and interests at the time of her death. None of the
decorations of the sarcophagus indicate the gender of its owner. They include winged erotes
who are harvesting grapes and making wine, along with sheep, peacocks and doves. These
images are more consistent with a pagan origin than a Christian one, despite the fact that all
these images can appear along with biblical scenes on Christian sarcophagi. Because
Christians were no doubt buried in sarcophagi made in generic non-Christian shops, the only
indication of Christian usage might be the inscription or secondary addition of a chi-rho
symbol or labarum. In other cases, partially-completed, "generic" sarcophagi were finished
with the addition of Christian scenes the central panels. In such cases, it would be more
accurate to state that Christians were able to tolerate certain pagan images on their
sarcophagi than that Bacchic grape harvest scenes were Christian images. In the case of
the Constantina Sarcophagus, there is virtually nothing to indicate that its owner wasn't
pagan, besides late Christian legends.

Santa Costanza Ambulatory Mosaic

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 The mosaics of the ambulatory include typical
Bacchic grape harvest and winemaking scenes. While
there is evidence of considerable sharing between
Christian and pagan symbols of this period, there is no
basis for a Christian interpretation to these mosaics,
despite claims to the contrary by apologists and some
writers focused on Christian lore. A Christian
interpretation of these mosaics would require total
redefinition of Christian/pagan iconography, and would
result in a completely arbitrary boundary between
these and other similar artworks known to be strictly
pagan - particularly those from the pre-Christian era.
Joseph Wilpert's (1916) claim that a Christian origin of
these mosaics was universally accepted was false at
the time (besides being of essentially an argument from
authority to start with), but has been the basis for similar
claims in the last century, resulting in the present state
of common understanding of the structure's origin. In
fact, it appears that the 16th century scholars who saw
these and the now-destroyed dome mosaics in person
universally concluded the structure and its mosaics were of pagan origin. A motive for the
modern insistence on Christian origin might be the desire to associate all things
Constantinian with Christianity, while the evidence suggests that Constantine carefully
balanced his Christian and pagan alliances.

Two apse mosaics in Santa Costanza appear to depict Jesus. They are ancient,
although heavily restored. They do not appear to be related to the somewhat older mosaics
in the ambulatory.
The mosaics appear to show Jesus in both his early forms, the young blonde-haired
shepherd and the older man on a throne with dark hair and beard. The young Apollo-like
Jesus was the first to appear in Christian art - at least a century before the dark-haired,
Syrian, version. The blonde Jesus wears a light-colored tunic and cloak (pallium). The scene
is a common one from Christian art of the period - Jesus as shepherd, handing the scroll of
the new law to Peter and Paul. One possible departure from this common theme is that it
does not appear that Peter, Paul and Jesus are in heaven, standing on the firmament as
they usually appear on sarcophagi, but are perhaps on the rock of Calvary. (Neither in
scripture nor in Catholic tradition did Paul encounter the earthly Jesus.) In the other mosaic
Jesus wears purple and gold, indicating a more regal role. It is possible that the latter was
meant by the artist to represent God the Father. Early Christians may have confused the two
images, resulting in the transition to the dark-haired Jesus image popular today.

Christian Apse Mosaic With Blonde Jesus

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Syrian Jesus (Possibly God the Father)

Church Of The Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem)

Historical Background
It is a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The church
contains, according to traditions dating back to at least the fourth century, the two holiest
sites in Christianity: the site where Jesus was crucified, at a place known as Calvary or
Golgotha, and Jesus's empty tomb, where he was buried and resurrected. The tomb is
enclosed by a 19th-century shrine called the Aedicula. The Status Quo, an understanding
between religious communities dating to 1757, applies to the site.
A pilgrim places candles in the tomb of the church
Within the church proper are the last four (or, by some definitions, five) stations of the
Via Dolorosa, representing the final episodes of the Passion of Jesus. The church has been
a major Christian pilgrimage destination since its creation in the fourth century, as the
traditional site of the resurrection of Christ, thus its original Greek name, Church of the
Anastasis ('Resurrection').

Church of The Holy Sepulchre Plan

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Exterior

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre lies in the northwest quarter of the Old City of
Jerusalem. Constantine the Great first built a church on the site. It was dedicated about 336
ce, burned by the Persians in 614, restored by Modestus (the abbot of the monastery of
Theodosius, 616–626), destroyed by the caliph al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh about 1009, and
restored by the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachus. In the 12th century the
Crusaders carried out a general rebuilding of the church. Since that time, frequent repair,
restoration, and remodeling have been necessary. The present church dates mainly from
1810.

Interior

In 2016 the shrine that encloses the tomb, known as

the Edicule, underwent a significant restoration, and the tomb
itself was opened for the first time in centuries. Samples of
mortar were taken from between the original limestone
surface of the tomb and a marble slab that covers it, and
the pieces were dated to about 345; previous archaeological
evidence dated only to the Crusader period.

This finding provides evidence for the earliest shrine

on the site, and other dated samples have confirmed the
historical sequences of rebuilding there.

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Santo Stefano Rotondo

Historical Background
Santo Stefano Rotondo al Celio is the 5th century Hungarian national church, which
is titular and has the status of a minor basilica. It is located at Via di Santo Stefano Rotondo
7, on the summit of the Caelian Hill in the rione Monti. The church was the first in Rome to
have a circular plan. Its architecture is unique in the Late Roman world.Saint Stefano was
probably financed by the wealthy Valerius family whose estates covered large parts of the
Caelian Hill. Their villa stood nearby, on the site of the present-day Hospital of San Giovanni
Addolorata. Saint Melania the Elder, a member of the family, was a frequent pilgrim to
Jerusalem and died there, so the family had connections to the Holy Land.
Back in the days of the imperial city, the Caelian hill was entirely built up. The summit
seems to have been occupied by barracks and villas owned by patricians, while down the
slope towards the Colosseum were multi-storey tenements or insulae occupied by plebs.
The present road network is substantially different from that which pertained back then, with
the notable exception of the present Via di Santo Stefano Rotondo and the Clivus Scauri.
This line of road probably originated with a Stone Age trackway running along the summit of
the hill from the Palatine, in which case it is one of the oldest things in the city and millennia
older than the little village of wooden huts called Rome that grew up in the 8th century BC.
The actual site of the church was occupied by the Castra Peregrina, which was the set of
barracks housing Roman soldiers detached from provincial legions for special service in the
city. They were originally used for supply and postal duties, but by the 2nd century were also
a police force. The government found them useful for beating up troublemakers, because
they had no worries about revenge being taken on their families. The camp was excavated
next to the church in 1902, and also beneath the church from 1969 to 1975. Two 2nd
century buildings were uncovered, and very interestingly the one under the church had a
Mithraeum. This shrine for the worship of Mithras had been re-ordered in the 3rd century,
and was one of the largest in Rome. It produced some interesting frescoes, including one of
the Moon Goddess (probably a version called Sin), and fragments of a statue of Mithras.

Original Layout and Form

The original plan and architectural form were amazingly complex, and raise many
unanswered questions about the building's original function.
The plan was based on four nested circles, on which was superimposed a Greek
cross with wide arms. These arms ran from the second
to the outermost circles. Proceeding from the centre
outwards, firstly there was the extant circle of twenty-two
Ionic columns supporting a trabeation (no arcade) and
having an ambulatory behind them. This colonnade
supported in turn the central drum, of brick and having a
low and light conical tiled roof. A dome would have been
impossible, as the colonnade would have been too weak
to support it. The drum originally had a run of twenty-two
arched windows immediately above the roofline of the
adjacent ambulatory.
The second circle was occupied by a second
colonnade, of thirty-six columns and eight piers, which
marked the outer limit of the inner ambulatory and which
supported an arcade. This colonnade is now occupied by the outer wall of the church, in
which the columns are still embedded. From this circle, the cross-arms ran north-east, north-
west, south-east and south-west to the fourth, outer circle which was occupied by the

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original outer wall. Each of these cross-arms had its own pitched and tiled roof, joined onto
the roof of the inner ambulatory mentioned. The columns of the second colonnade which
formed the four entrance portals of these cross-arms
are taller than the rest, as can still be seen.
The third circle, just within the outer wall, was
marked by barrel-vaulted arcades forming outer
ambulatories running just within the outer wall in
between the cross arms. Another interpretation has
these arcades as solid walls. In between these
arcades (or walls) and the second colonnade further in
were four open courts, the favoured interpretation, or
four unlit roofed chambers. Whatever these were, they
were each entered through the second colonnade or
through two triple side-entrances from the flanking
cross-arms.
When the building was first conceived, each
section of outer wall in between the cross-arms had
two entrance doorways, eight in all. Before or just after
it was finished, however, six doors were blocked up
and only the two flanking the north-east cross arms were left. There was originally no
entrance vestibule outside the outer wall.
If the third circle was occupied by solid walls, anybody entering through one of these
doors would have been faced with a blank wall. He or she would have had to turn right or left
into one of the cross-arms to make an entrance. This would have made the building into a
simple labyrinth.
The original decoration was rich. The original flooring of the rotunda has been
excavated, and was of precious marble slabs (cipollino was used) laid in a pattern which
included a cross radiating out to the cross-arms. Evidence of the use of opus sectile and of
marble wall revetting was also found.
On the other hand, the recent restoration revealed that the original building standards
were rather poor. As a result, the edifice has had a long history of instability and disrepair
which affected how it was treated in subsequent centuries.

Exterior
The church is obviously basically round, but there are large annexed structures to the
east. From north going clockwise, these are: The monastery, the entrance loggia, the Chapel
of SS Primus and Felician and the Hungarian Chapel.
The exterior has had no decorative attention from renovators through the centuries after the
12th century restoration, and
hence presents a simple and
rather stark aspect. The exterior
walling is all in red brick, with no
embellishments except a dentillate
cornice on the roofline of the drum.
The windows of the drum
have mullions forming two little
arches and an oculus on top in
each one, and you can see how
most of the original rows of
windows were blocked up in the
12th century. The rows of little holes in the brickwork of the drum are putlog holes, for
scaffolding.
The drum itself is 22 metres wide and the same tall. The church is now 42 metres
wide, and was 66 metres when first built.

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The outer wall of the church shows the colonnaded arcade which used to be here before it
was blocked up; the arches of the arcade now contain either little oculi or larger lunettes and
these light the church's ambulatory. There are regularly-spaced brick buttresses which mark
the locations of the demolished cross arms.
There is a little apse on the west side of the church, and this is the Blessed Sacrament
chapel which was built in the 15th century. To the left of the entrance is the Chapel of SS
Primus and Felician under its own pitched and hipped roof, and to the left of this is the
Hungarian Chapel under a cat-slide roof.

Interior
Upon entering, you’ll see a ring of Ionic columns supporting the drum and
surrounding the main altar in the centre. Around this ring is an ambulatory which runs round
the entire interior. To the left of the entrance is the external Chapel of SS Primus and
Felician, flanked by a pair of sacristies, and beyond that is the Hungarian Chapel. Directly
opposite the former chapel, inserted into the outer wall, is a little apse containing the former
Blessed Sacrament chapel which is lit by a large oculus. To either side against the wall, at
ninety degrees, are two other little side altars.

The inner colonnade originally had twenty-two ancient grey granite Ionic columns
supporting a trabeation (or horizontal entablature), and it is fortunate that the drum never
collapsed as a result. Arcading would have been stronger. The columns are not a matching
set, having differing widths and heights so that the capitals and bases do not match either (it
is thought that these are mediaeval rather than ancient). The entablature is in marble, and is
molded.
The interior of the drum above ends in a flat raftered roof, and contains round-
headed windows most of which are blocked. Those that are not have two lights with
colonnette and ring mullions. The interior wall of the drum is unadorned, and whitewashed.
In the 12th century, two much larger grey granite Corinthian columns were sourced and
brought in to support an arcade of three relieving arches installed across the central space to
prevent the drum from collapsing. Erecting these in the church must have been a very
challenging engineering exercise. The outer arches are supported on piers also with
Corinthian capitals, and to create these two of the original colonnade columns were walled
up. They are still there. The central arch is larger with a single relieving round-headed
opening in the screen wall above, while the side arches each have two.
The central altar was installed in 1455 by the Florentine artist Bernardo Rossellino,
responsible for the 15th century restoration. This is on a raised area enclosed by a low
octagonal sold stone screen, executed by Niccolò Circignani in 1580. There are two opposite
entrances to this, facing the Blessed Sacrament and SS Primus and Felician chapels, and
the two middle sides in between these are butted against the arcade columns. The six sides
without entrances each have two monochrome fresco panels showing scenes from the life of
St Stephen of Hungary, which are labelled in Latin. The corners of the octagon each have

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two small relief panels depicting saints, and the two entrances are flanked by two more
pairs. The entrance sides have reliefs of little dragons in between the saints.
The floor is modern, laid after the archaeological excavations were finished. Much of
it was down by 2009, but work was still in progress in 2013. It is an interesting design in its
own right, formed by fitting together grey-veined marble tiles in various ways. The ones near
the altar are closely fitted, but those in the ambulatory are separated by wide strips of
cement with some areas in tiles of various shapes laid in what the English call crazy-paving.
The last style emulated that of the original floor, which the archaeologists have left exposed
in some places. This had fragments of different coloured marbles laid in a semi-random way.
Other areas had black and white geometric mosaic flooring.
The outer wall has the former outer arcade embedded in it, with most of the mainly
Ionic columns being in view. There are thirty-six in total, including one apparently encased in
the entrance pier, two free-standing at the entrance of the Chapel of SS Primus and Felician
(these are Corinthian) and one free-standing at the entrance of the Hungarian Chapel.
These columns support arcades, with banded archivolts now containing round windows
(oculi) mostly with some lunette windows. Interspersed with the columns are eight piers,
which you can tell are original by the way the archivolts spring from them. These mark the
corners of the former cross-arms, and correspond with buttresses on the exterior wall. The
columns are arranged in runs of five (within the former entrances of the cross arms) and six
(in between).
The four arches in the far side opposite the chapel of Primus and Felician, flanking
the little apse, are taller and their four ribbed columns are Corinthian.
The three side altars in the main body of the church are now derelict.
The left hand one was dedicated to the Crucifix, and has an epigraph now propped
up on top mentioning this and which also lists also a large number of saints. There is no
crucifix here now, only the dark blue fresco backdrop with golden stars.
The right hand side altar has a damaged fresco of The Flagellation of Christ.
The far chapel, in a little apse, apparently used to be the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and
was dedicated to Our Lady. The altarpiece has been removed.

Centralized Imperial Tombs

Mausoleum of Augustus

Historical Background
The traditional story is that in 410, during the sack of Rome by Alaric, the pillaging
Visigoths rifled the vaults, stole the urns and scattered the ashes, without damaging the
structure of the building. Platner and Ashby, however, posited that "The story of its
plundering by Alaric in 410 has no historical foundation, and we know nothing of its
destruction".
By the end of the 10th century, the
mausoleum had become largely buried under earth
and overgrown with trees, to the point where it was
referred to as the Mons Augustus. A legend of the
time referred to a supposed decree by Augustus
who ordered that a basketful of earth from every
province of the empire was to be thrown upon his
tomb, so that he could rest on the soil of the whole
world over which he ruled. Atop the Mausoleum
stood a chapel built to the Archangel Michael,
while alongside was the Church of Santa Maria (or
perhaps Martina) in Augusto (later transformed into San Giacomo degli Incurabili).

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 By the 12th century, the tumulus was fortified as a castle— as was the mausoleum of
Hadrian, which was turned into the Castel Sant'Angelo— and occupied by the Colonna
family. After the disastrous defeat of the Commune of Rome at the hands of the Count of
Tusculum in 1167, the Colonna were disgraced and banished, and their fortification in the
Campo was dismantled. Throughout the Renaissance it passed through the ownership of
several major Roman families, who used it as a garden; at the beginning of the 19th century
it was in use as a circus.
In the early 20th century, the interior of the Mausoleum was used as a concert hall
called the Augusteo, until Mussolini ordered it closed in the 1930s and restored it to the
status of an archaeological site. The restoration of the Mausoleum of Augustus to a place of
prominence featured in Benito Mussolini's ambitious reordering of the city of Rome which
strove to connect the aspirations of Italian Fascism with the former glories of the Roman
Empire. Mussolini viewed himself especially connected to the achievements of Augustus,
seeing himself as a 'reborn Augustus' ready to usher in a new age of Italian dominance.

Description
The mausoleum was one of the first projects initiated by Augustus in the city of Rome
following his victory at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. The mausoleum was circular in plan,
consisting of several concentric rings of earth and brick, faced with travertine on the exterior,
and planted with cypresses on the top tier. The
whole structure was capped (possibly, as
reconstructions are unsure at best) by a conical
roof and a huge bronze statue of Augustus.
Vaults held up the roof and opened up the
burial spaces below. Twin pink granite obelisks
flanked the arched entryway; these have been
removed; one now stands at the Piazza
dell'Esquilino (on the north-west side of the
Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore) and the
other at the Quirinal fountain. The completed
mausoleum measured 90 m (295 ft) in
diameter by 42 m (137 ft) in height.
A corridor ran from the entryway into the heart of the mausoleum, where there was a
chamber with three niches to hold the golden urns enshrining the ashes of the Imperial
Family. Two pillars flanking the entrance were mounted with bronze plaques inscribed with
the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, the document describing Augustus' accomplishments and
victories.[3] Surrounding the mausoleum was landscaped parkland akin to modern public
parks, affording a place of retreat at the heart of Rome's heavily urbanized Campus Martius.

Restoration
In January 2017, Italian authorities
announced that due to a €6 million grant
from Telecom Italia the Mausoleum of
Augustus would receive a comprehensive
restoration that will allow it to open to the
public for the first time since the 1970s.
When the Mausoleum opens it will be fully
restored and incorporate a multi-media
exhibition that will project images of modern
and ancient Rome onto the interior walls of
the structure. While it was announced in
2017 that the full restoration would be
completed by April 2019, the Mausoleum was still not open to the public at the end of 2019.

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 An earlier intention to restore the Mausoleum in time to commemorate the 2,000th
anniversary of Augustus' death in 2014 failed due to funding shortfalls. The neglect of the
Mausoleum, closed to the public, overgrown with vegetation and used as a dumping ground
for litter, had long attracted criticism, especially after the opening of the Ara Pacis museum
across the street in 2006. Following the renovations the Italian press reported on 7 January
2020 that the Mausoleum was due to reopen to the public in the Spring of 2020.

Hadrian’s Tomb
Historical Background
The tomb of the Roman emperor Hadrian,
also called Hadrian's mole, was erected on the
right bank of the Tiber, between AD 134 and 139.
Originally the mausoleum was a decorated
cylinder, with a garden top and golden quadriga.
Hadrian's ashes were placed here a year after his
death in Baiae in 138, together with those of his
wife Sabina, and his first adopted son, Lucius
Aelius, who died in 138. The urns containing these
ashes were probably placed in what is now known
as the Treasury Room, deep within the building.
Hadrian also built the Pons Aelius facing straight
onto the mausoleum – it still provides a scenic approach from the center of Rome and the
left bank of the Tiber, and is renowned for the Baroque additions of statues of angels holding
aloft instruments of the Passion of Christ.

Characteristics:
Much of the tomb contents and decorations have been lost since the building's
conversion to a military fortress in 401 and its subsequent inclusion in the Aurelian Walls by
Flavius Honorius Augustus. The urns and ashes were scattered by Visigoth looters during
Alaric's sacking of Rome in 410, and the original decorative bronze and stone statuary were
thrown down upon the attacking Goths when they besieged Rome in 537, as recounted by
Procopius. An unusual survivor, however, is the capstone of a funerary urn (probably that of
Hadrian), which made its way to Saint Peter's Basilica, covered the tomb of Otto II and later
was incorporated into a massive Renaissance baptistery. The use of spolia from the tomb in
the post-Roman period was noted in the 16th century.

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 Barberini Faun (Glyptothek, Munich) once part of the Castel
Sant'Angelo

The original angel by Raffaello da Montelupo.

Bronze statue of Michael the Archangel, standing on top

of the Castel Sant'Angelo, modelled in 1753 by Peter
Anton von Verschaffelt (1710–1793)

The Angels

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 References

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/medieval-world/early-christian-art/beginners-
guide-early-christian-art/a/early-christianity-an-introduction
https://architecture_history.enacademic.com/85/EARLY_CHRISTIAN_ARCHITECTURE
http://www.classichistory.net/archives/early-christian-architecture
https://www.slideshare.net/vaibhavghodke1/early-christian-architecture-34332065
https://smarthistory.org/temple-of-portunus/
https://www.slideshare.net/ArchiEducPH/history-early-christian-architecture
https://smarthistory.org/santa-sabina/
https://www.britannica.com/place/Holy-Sepulchre
https://romanchurches.fandom.com/wiki/Santo_Stefano_Rotondo_al_Celio
http://www.rome101.com/Christian/Costanza/
https://www.spottinghistory.com/view/6951/santa-costanza/
https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-97/holy-land-christian-history-
timeline.html
https://romanchurches.fandom.com/wiki/Santo_Stefano_Rotondo_al_Celio
https://www.ancient.eu/article/657/mausoleum-of-augustus/
http://www.mausoleodiaugusto.it/en/
https://www.roomatrome.com/mausoleum-of-hadrian-castel-santangelo/
https://austhrutime.com/castel_sant_angelo.htm
http://ausinpix.com/web-castel_santangelo/index.htm
Early Christian and Byzantine architecture (Art Ebook).pdf
EARLY_CHRISTIAN_CHURCHES_IN_THE_HOLY_LAND.pdf

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