The Roman Empire and the development of Christianity

Christianity had been founded in the lands of Zion from Jewish tradition. The sect, at that time, recruited its members among the Jews and Saint Paul, born in Tarsus and therefore a Roman citizen, spread the word of Christ on his travels and baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He died in Rome in the year 64. In the first part of the first century, the development of this oriental cult was already considerable within and even outside the Roman Empire. The East, that is, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor were the regions where there were the most Christians, followed to a lesser extent by Greece and Macedonia "Macedonia (region)").

During the fire of Rome in 64, Nero took advantage of the bad reputation of the Christians to accuse them; then in 95 Domitian pursued them again. Under Trajan and in the 19th century, under the Stoic Marcus Aurelius, those who persisted in their errors were condemned. Between 200 and 202, Septimius Severus banned Christian proselytism, then between 260 and 302 a period of peace reigned. In 303 or 304, Diocletian and his colleagues Maximian Hercules, Constantius Chlorus and especially Galerius published four edicts generalizing the persecutions to the entire empire. They were terrible, except in Gaul and Britain. During that long period, since Christians refused to sacrifice to the pagan deities of the Empire, they played a discreet role in the official world. They formed communities far from the pagans, celebrating their worship in private homes, and rejecting cremation like the Jews, they developed catacombs to bury their dead. In them are the first manifestations of Christian art. Since the 19th century, public worship and churches such as Dura Europos[4]​ near the Euphrates, before 256, were seen appearing.

But the Christians were already very numerous and in 311, the edict of tolerance of Galerius, followed in 313 by the edict of Milan marked the end of the persecution; The edict granted them religious freedom, the restitution of their property, and measures were taken against the pagans. It was signed by Constantine I the Great (r. 306-337) and Licinius (r. 308-324), leaders of the Western and Eastern Roman empires, respectively. At the time of the promulgation there were nearly 1,500 episcopal sees in the Empire and at least five to seven million inhabitants of the fifty that made up the empire professed Christianity. After approval, the stage known by Christian historians as the Peace of the Church began. The First Council of Nicaea in 325, which was presided over by the emperor with 220 Eastern bishops and two Roman priests, recognized the divinity of Christ and his consubstantiality with the Father. Constantine, although he was baptized when he was already on his deathbed, after a long catechumenate, became the first Christian emperor, a sign of religious victory.

After the reign of several pagan emperors, the first council of Constantinople in 381 completed that of Nicaea. At the death of Theodosius I in 395, when most of the Empire was already Christian, and even further afield with Armenia, Assyria, Mesopotamia and Persia, the Empire itself was in serious crisis and the East separated from the West. The so-called "barbarian" peoples, arriving from Central Asia, invaded the divided empire: the East, which preserved the Greco-Roman civilization, resisted while the West collapsed, becoming barbarian while remaining Christian. The pope's role was to maintain unity between those two different worlds that communicated little with each other.

Less than a century later, Clovis I, pagan king of the Franks, was baptized and with the support of the Roman clergy conquered Gaul.

In the 2nd century, the Iberian Peninsula was devastated by invasions, but the Visigothic Church did not experience decline. In Africa, the life of Christians was increasingly clandestine as the Arab invasion destroyed it. Italy suffered several barbarian invasions before its reconquest by Justinian (r. 527-565) in 535, who subjected the Church to his authority in the face of a weakened papacy until the arrival of Pope Gregory the Great (p. 590-602), who evangelized England. In France, after the reign of the Merovingian king Dagobert I (r. 629-639), the Frankish church was in complete decline.

In the East, where the West was seen as a pale figure compared to the Byzantine Church, the basileus was considered an equal to the pope until the rule of Justinian, who wanted to achieve the religious unity of the Empire. He protected the church and its orthodoxy, fighting against pagans and heretics. Such was the case of the emperors Heraclius (r. 610-641), Constans II (641-648), Leontius (r. 695-698) and Leo III "Leo III (emperor)") (717-751). To these claims, the papacy and also the Western clergy fiercely resisted.[5][6]​.

In the 19th century, with the support of the papacy, Charlemagne reestablished the Holy Roman Empire and expressed his power using early Christian references in Carolingian architecture.

Roman architectural context

With Trajan (r. 53-117), the era of Rome's expansion policy reached its peak but it was also its end and art became retrospective. The temple erected by Antoninus Pius (r. 86-161) in 142 was not particularly original. The shaking of the Empire caused by the wars against the barbarians under the last Antonian emperors caused the abandonment of the construction of important monuments in the capital while in the southern and eastern provinces, there was strong construction activity. Private architecture took on new importance with the new funerary rites, and the shift from cremation to burial in coffins entailed the construction of entire rows of small temples along the various routes leading out of the cities.

Only Septimius Severus was able, after consolidating his power, to tackle large projects such as the baths of Caracalla in 206. In the rest of the century, official activity was applied to the reconstruction or rehabilitation of existing buildings and architects did not look for new solutions at the end of the century and beginning of the century. The Arch of Constantine from 315 is part of the series of fixed and rectilinear constructions of the time. But, in the late Constantinian era, a new spirit was already animating the architecture that could be found both in vaulted buildings and in buildings with flat roofs, such as the basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, the last late evolution of an already existing type that will consequently prove rich when used as a model in a new context.

The Constantinian basilica, as erected in Rome in Saint John Lateran, in the first Saint Peter and in Saint Paul Outside the Walls, constitutes the transfer, in the sacred domain, of the Aula of the imperial palaces. It should not be understood as a derivative of the Italic market basilica, which was a large room surrounded by columns, but of the Constantinian basilica that was clearly oriented towards the apse and which was divided into three, five or even seven naves by columns that stopped at the entrance wall and at the head. Unlike the Roman market basilica, the roof was high with an attic that allowed openings to be made and provided ample lighting for the nave. Until the time of Justinian, this form was preferred for large churches.

It was the legacy of the divine Roman Empire to the new lord of the world, Jesus Christ, whom Constantine I considered himself his vicar. The spiritual and political forces that made Roman architecture progress led, therefore, to another evolution that was already announced in the East.[7]​.

The Jewish influence

Initially, Christians mixed Judaic rites with new elements of worship to soon achieve complete emancipation from Old Testament law. The preachings of the apostle Paul of Tarsus touched the Jews and the ancient pagans. The first prayer meetings were held in local synagogues. The community of Ephesus, in Asia Minor, was the first, among those evangelized by Paul, to acquire its autonomy from Judaism when the faithful stopped frequenting the local synagogue. It will be the homes of the members of the Christian community that from then on will host the sermons and celebrations.[8]​.

Historians of Christian art gave little place to Jewish antecedents, since the divorce between Jews and Christians was ancient and deep. But historians and liturgists never doubted the frequent contacts between both religions until the end of the century or the profound influences of synagogal Judaism on early Christian worship. The discovery at the archaeological site of Dura Europos of a domus ecclesiae and a synagogue confirmed this influence of Jewish iconography.

The precocity of the cult architecture of the Jews over that of the Christians was normal. The Roman State officially recognized the Jewish religion and therefore allowed the construction of its places of worship, having to wait until 313 for Christians to enjoy those same rights. As soon as tolerance was extended to Christians, they were provided with buildings of the same type.

No basilica-type building applied to synagogues has been found in Dura Europos but in Galilee. The oldest ones are from around the year 200, where you can see an elongated rectangular building divided into three naves in the longitudinal direction. At the head, a cabinet was intended to receive the Torah scrolls. The differences between the basilicas and the synagogues were the elevation of the central nave compared to the side naves - which allowed clerestories to illuminate it - and the connection of the colonnades through a transverse portico as in the synagogue of Capernaum. At that time, the synagogues had the entrance door oriented towards Jerusalem and in the first Christian basilicas they also did so, although later they began to face west, illuminating the altar with morning light.

The basilica building was widely spread throughout the Empire and was adapted to all needs. It must have satisfied the demands of the Jewish and Christian cults.[9]​.

Domus ecclesiae and synagogue in Dura Europos

The evidence from the ruins of Dura Europos has considerable historical significance. At that time the domus ecclesiae of the Christians resembled other houses in the city with one or two rooms on the ground floor reserved for Christian worship without it being possible with certainty to derive its functions, except for those of a long room that served as a baptistery with wall paintings and furniture. It is an architecture from the first half of the century that has nothing specifically Christian about it other than the decoration and a masonry piece of furniture in the baptism room.

The neutrality of this domus ecclesiae of Dura contrasts with the neighboring synagogue, which is practically from the same period. It is installed in an ordinary house but in a much larger complex of secular constructions. This architectural organization is not found among Christians. The synagogue is separated from the rest of the building by continuous walls. It includes a patio with three porches and in the background a large room that is wider than it is deep. Two doors, one for the men and probably another for the women, led to it. On the back wall, a niche-ciborium "Ciborio (architecture)") served to house the Torah cabinet. A bench attached to the wall surrounded the entire hall of the synagogue.[9]​.

Contenido

Los primeros desarrollos del arte cristiano, que en origen no fueron más que una rama del arte antiguo y que nacieron con el peso milenario de las costumbres del arte mediterráneo, estaban vinculados a las necesidades del culto y a las condiciones en las que se ejercía. Y dependía de la situación de los cristianos en relación con el poder imperial.

En torno al año 200 hasta alrededor del 260 y 313, cuando el emperador Constantino, junto con Licinio, decretaron el Edicto de Milán (313).[10]​ Este les dio libertad de culto a los cristianos, los cuales habían vivido una vida semi-clandestina. Por lo que, su período de expansión llegó hasta el año 380, cuando el Edicto promulgado por Teodosio I (Edicto de Tesalónica, 380)[11]​ reconoció al cristianismo como religión oficial del Imperio Romano.

La salida de la clandestinidad se realizó de forma paulatina hasta el 330, fecha del edicto imperial que establecía el cristianismo como religión oficial del Estado. Luego en el 391, llegó la prohibición del culto pagano. En el último período, el desarrollo de las iglesias o de las basílicas que sustituyeron a las antiguas domus ecclesiae, fue espectacular.

El arte paleocristiano fue un arte bastante extendido que deriva del carácter universal de esa religión.[12]​ En Occidente, habrá que esperar a principios de la Edad Media para ver una evolución con la aparición de las obras de influencia bárbara, a partir de las cuales se inició una nueva etapa del arte cristiano, que se manifiesta en los estilos románico y gótico. En Oriente, sin embargo, se mantuvieron las tradiciones bajo la influencia del estilo bizantino, debido a la resistencia que mostraron ante las invasiones bárbaras.[13]​.

Catacombs

The catacombs were born in Rome at the end of the century with Pope Cepherinus (199-217 AD) but none of their funerary themes are before the year 200. ecclesiae)*. However, certain sources claim that they did not serve as a refuge during the persecutions of Christians, but rather it is a later belief.

Most of the catacombs in Rome are located underground along the great roads leading out of the city, such as the Appian Way, the Via Ardeatina, the Via Salaria and the Via Nomentana. The catacombs, along with the sarcophagi, are the perfect example of how Christianity is presented as a modus vivirdi (way of life) and the ars morendi (die well) dedicated to the obsession with life, death and the afterlife.

They are made up of galleries with niches in the walls, called loculi, which were generally intended to house a single corpse, and arranged one on top of the other. They were located outside the limits that marked the city, since Roman law did not allow burials within the urban area for religious and health reasons.[15] There are not only catacombs in Rome, there are also them in other cities, but those in the current Italian capital are the most numerous and extensive, with sixty catacombs that house nearly 750,000 tombs, expanding to occupy between 150 and 170 kilometers.

Previously it was believed that the catacombs had been built in some old abandoned galleries, from which pozzolan stone was extracted, used to make cement.[16] But studies carried out in the 19th century by the Jesuit Giuseppe Marchi and his student, the archaeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi, concluded that these galleries were made exclusively for use as cemeteries[17] The organization of the first cemetery is attributed to Pope Calixtus I and the date around 200, the study carried out by the archaeologist Paul Styger for the catacomb of San Callisto agrees with this attribution. The use of the catacombs came only after the sacking of Rome "Sacking of Rome (410)") in the year 410 by the Visigoths, since at that time they already had large basilicas, which could be used for funerary services and to store the relics of the martyrs.[18]​.

The bodies of the martyrs were stolen to make relics. There was no worship in the catacombs, only the service of the dead, but not the Eucharist that is practiced in Christian homes (domus ecclesiae)[19]​[20]​.

• - Catacombs of Saint Callixtus, crypt of the popes, Rome.

• - Catacomb of Santa Lucia"), Syracuse.

• - Catacombs of Domitilla, Rome.

• - Arcosolium.

• - Catacombs of Saint Savinilla in Nepi.

The structure of the catacombs is quite chaotic, as it was like a large labyrinth. First, a first level was excavated and it was extended to lower floors following irregular lines due to the terrain, reaching a depth of up to thirty meters. The loculi (niches in the walls) have some exceptions where there was more than one body. These niches were closed with a stone or brick slab, on which inscriptions in Greek or Latin were often found. In addition, there was another type of niche called arcosolium") (arcosolium), this is characterized by having an arch, closed with a tombstone and was intended for more important figures.

The cubiculum was a type of sepulchral chamber that contained several loculi for the same family, they were small chapels decorated with frescoes. These were located at the crossing of passages or galleries. The cubicula were usually square, but there were also circular and polygonal ones. These could house up to 70 loculi on ten levels. Finally, there were small crypts that contained the tomb of a martyr.[18]​ In almost all the catacombs there are open skylights in the ceiling of the crypts or in the galleries themselves, which were initially used to raise to the surface the earth that was extracted during their construction and which were left open to be lighting and ventilation points.[21][22]​.

Most of the catacombs are carved in tuff, both in Rome, where there are about sixty, and in Latium. In Italy, they develop in the south as far as the island of Pianosa, while the most southern hypogea are those of northern Africa and especially in Hadrumète") (Susa) in Tunisia. They are found in Tuscany, in Chiusi; in Umbria "Umbria (Italy)"), near Todi; in Abruzzo, in Amiternum l'Aquila; in Campania, in Naples; in Puglia, in Canosa di Puglia; in Basilicata, in Venosa, where the Jewish and Christian catacombs demonstrate the coexistence of the two religions; in Sicily, in Palermo, Syracuse, Marsala, Agrigento and, in Sardinia, in Cagliari San Antioco").

The decorations that occurred at the end of the 3rd century were extremely simple, with fresco paintings, mosaics and reliefs on the sarcophagi. Symbols were found in most of the graves, with themes such as: eternal salvation, the anchor (symbolizing hope) or Jonah "Jonah (prophet)") saved from the belly of the whale. There were also images of the dove representing peace, the cross and salvation, the phoenix (representing the resurrection from ashes) and the fish and the Good Shepherd (both representing the image of Christ).

The paintings could show scenes from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Among those of the Old Testament are: the sacrifice of Isaac, Noah and his ark, Daniel in the pit with lions, Elijah in his chariot and the three Hebrews Ananias, Mishael and Azariah, in the burning furnace, among others. And, from the New Testament there are scenes such as the evocation of the resurrection of Christ, as well as numerous stories about his life. And, the first image of the Virgin in the catacomb of Priscilla is from the first half of the 3rd century and presents Christ with the symbolism of the Good Shepherd, the martyrs and the Fathers of the Church.[9]​[23][24]​ There are other representations of the Virgin with the Child sitting on her lap, the so-called Theotokos.[25]​.

A good example of a catacomb is that of San Callisto (Rome). This dates back to approximately the year 250 and is the chapel where the first popes of Rome were buried. It was Pope Ceferinus who, with these lands in his possession, commissioned the deacon Calixtus to create a cemetery located next to the Via Appia. This would be administered by the senior hierarchy of the church.

In the Cubicle of the Popes there are reused columns, since the materials with which they were made belonged to the Romans. In addition, the late Roman tradition will be maintained with that fake architecture, which includes pendentives and vertices.

Finally, in the paintings that are found, different scenes are observed such as: Eucharistic banquets, Daniel in the lions' den and the good shepherd, among others.

Christian houses - Domus ecclesiæ - Tituli

The domus ecclesiae was a special type of private building used by early Christians to gather and worship. This "house of the Church" (community of the faithful) was not designed or built for liturgical celebrations, but it did serve the function of a meeting place for the faithful, where different rites could be celebrated. It was a private space with its limitations that could be adapted to needs in a sometimes provisional way.

Some experts observe in the plan of these domus ecclesiæ the antecedent to what is known as the basilica plan in Christian architecture. However, ancient aula, pagan basilicas, scholæ or thermal halls could also become basilicas and could be built on the site of Christian houses. It can be considered that there was no Christian architecture prior to Constantine I, and that it was not the strictly religious needs of the spiritual life or the liturgy that led to the creation of a basilica art imposed on the Church as a necessity. For the Roman emperors, art functioned as a propaganda tool, thus promoting each stage of Roman artistic evolution.

At the archaeological site of Dura Europos, the oldest known church, built in the 2nd century around the year 232, was discovered in 1931 (in the same district as the synagogue and a shrine to Mithras) (it is known due to its architecture, decoration and inscriptions). This was an ancient Hellenistic settlement converted into a Roman border garrison and located near the Euphrates River (today in Syria).

The domus ecclesiae of Dura Europos is a house built in a similar way to the other homes in the place, but larger in size. It is entered from the street through a chicane corridor that opens to a paved patio with a portico on one side. In front of this access, a large door opens towards a large room, this arrangement may recall the eastern diwan "Divan (institution)") in its decoration and symbols, since these do not offend Christian thought. A brick bench runs along the walls, and at one point it rises to mark the place of who was presiding in that place. From the patio you can access another smaller room. Both the patio and this smaller room were used for holding meetings and agapes. There was also a staircase leading to the upper floor (now missing), which is said to have housed the residence of some important person, such as the bishop.

At the time of the construction of this “house of God”, Christians already had a certain freedom that allowed them to have places of worship and cemeteries in common. But, with the exception of baptism, Christian worship did not require a specialized building. In the same room the Eucharist was celebrated and the homilies and sermons were heard, that is, there is no fixed altar or formal separation between clerics and faithful.

Basilicas

With the proclamation in 313 of the Edict of Milan, Christians were able to freely practice their religious worship. During the reign of Constantine I there was a reversal of the treatment given to them by the empire, because Constantine relied entirely on the innovations brought by Christianity. He changed Rome and the world. Before the edict, Constantine had already recognized Christianity as the greatest spiritual force in the entire Empire. He captured the energies about to explode and gave them free rein without suffocating the forces of paganism that were still alive. In the basilica built by Maxentius, the statue of Constantine in the apse replaces the images of Jupiter, but with a look towards the divine. To appropriate this basilica, he added a second apse and a vestibule on the side to transform it into a building with a central nave.

Constantine was the first ruler who placed man at the center of the Universe. The new works no longer sought to translate an external life, subject to organic natural law, to gravity, but rather to create a luminous spiritual universe that transcended terrestrial life. With him at the helm, Christianity and its leaders began to occupy major positions. With public worship allowed and the number of believers increasing every day, the architecture necessary to accommodate them went from simple shelter in private houses to requiring new monumental forms that were inspired by the Roman architecture of the time, taking as a model the basilicas of civic centers with market activities and courtrooms. These new basilicas continue to use the same forms, but with different uses: in Christian buildings, worship and assemblies were carried out inside, while Greco-Roman worship took place outside, around the temple[37].

Despite the large number of Christian temples or basilicas that were built during the century, almost all of them were destroyed or renovated in later centuries.[38]​

It is surprising to find since the 19th century, in all the provinces of the Empire, churches that adopted the same three-nave basilica form. Aesthetically, on the inside, all these basilicas look similar, and it is possible that Christians clung to these types of rooms, because they were suitable for their liturgical meetings. They appreciated the effect that a basilica room produces on those who enter through the middle door: the symmetrical double colonnade in front of them directs their gaze towards the altar table fixed in the background. Since the choir, with its Eucharistic table, is motionless in front of the apse and nothing would better express the idea of ​​a divine stay. The choir would evoke the intelligible sky and the nave would represent the earth or the material universe.[9]​.

The origin of the Christian basilica is controversial, with authors who support an original creation and others who support an imitation of pagan models.

• - For the architect Alberti, the Christian basilica was only the reproduction by Christianity of the judicial basilica of the Romans and this hypothesis was taken up by Viollet-le-Duc, Auguste Choisy or Jules Quicherat"), although they all presented different models. From simple rooms without interior columns, that of Maxentius consists of three vaulted naves; others such as the Basilica Julia are vast porticoes open on all sides and Trajan's Basilica Ulpia It is made up of two opposing apses. This solution does not seem satisfactory to all scholars.

Structure of the basilica

The early Christian basilica in general consisted of three parts: an access atrium, the body of the longitudinal basilica, divided into three or five naves "Nave (architecture)") separated by columns "Column (architecture)"), the central nave always tended to be higher, while above the side naves they sometimes had galleries or tribunes called matroneo especially made for women. In the presbytery "Presbytery (architecture)"), the altar was located. The head was occupied by an apse covered with a quarter-sphere dome. The unbaptized occupied a place before the door of the basilica called the atrium or narthex where there used to be a large basin of water for ablutions. The roof in the construction of the early Christian basilica was usually gabled with a light wooden roof, so its walls were completely smooth and there was no need to build buttresses. The exterior light came from large open windows in the side walls and from the upper part of the central nave through the clerestory. Many of the materials used, such as columns and capitals, were taken from other Roman buildings.

This practice is known as spolia, which consists of the reuse of construction or decorative materials from old buildings or monuments in new ones. This was very common in Antiquity and even more so in the Middle Ages, and they have an ideological sense, to link that architecture with a significant historical moment, or practical, so as not to have to produce new pieces.[42][43]​.

Functionality

The closed architecture corresponding to the Roman civil basilica was used, mainly because the Roman or Greek temple was normally rejected due to its significance contrary to Christianity, but also because the stylistic type was not easy to adjust to the new Christian rite, the pagan sacrifice was carried out on an altar located outside the temple and the interior was used to place the statue of the god to whom their cult was dedicated. Also in the Christian religion, the act of symbolic sacrifice was carried out on an altar for the transubstantiation of wine and bread into the blood and body of Christ, but it had always been carried out in closed places, as it had been carried out in the Holy Supper celebrated by Christ. For the ritual of the century, a path was needed for the processional route of the clergy, one part where the altar was placed and the mass was celebrated, another part for the faithful who participated in the procession and communion and another for the catechumens or the unbaptized.[44]​.

Emperor Constantine himself founded several basilicas in Rome – St. John Lateran (312-319), St. Peter in the Vatican consecrated in 326 – and members of his family did the same. Other churches were founded in Jerusalem: Holy Sepulchre, Basilica of the Nativity, Mount of Olives in 325-337 and in Constantinople: Hagia Sophia, Holy Apostles in 333-337. Constantius II completed some without much haste as popes and bishops built them in Rome and throughout the Empire. Known are the Sanctuary of the Ascension in Jerusalem, Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls, Saint Agnes Outside the Walls, Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls and Saints Peter and Marcellus) in Rome, the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Trier, the Cathedral of Gerasa in Palestine (region)), the Episcopal Church of Epidaurus in Greece and several churches in Syria and even in northern Mesopotamia, including the Baptistery of Nisibis.

In the 19th century, the basilicas were westernized and the entrance façade was to the east, the structure is quite poor with a rich decoration of wall paintings and mosaics.

After the death of Constantine, we will have to wait until the arrival of Theodosius I in the year 379 to find a new, durable and definitive effort to construct the pro-Christian and anti-pagan policy of Theodosius and his successors.[9]​.

The Basilica of Saint John Lateran is built on the site of the palace of the Laterani family. It was confiscated and then given by Emperor Constantine to the bishop of Rome, probably Pope Melquiades I (310-314 AD). In 313, the first council was held there and it became the habitual residence of the popes, the Lateran Palace.

Next to the palace, the basilica dedicated to the Holy Savior was built (the current Basilica of Saint John Lateran), consecrated by Pope Sylvester I. Over time, this basilica has been transformed, but it has been possible to reconstruct the original project, whose plan reflects above all the function: it is a simple building, almost a hundred meters long and about fifty meters wide because it was to house the entire Christian community of Rome in its function as an assembly church. It consisted of a wider central nave and two narrower ones on each side separated by large colonnades; The central nave was higher and had a gabled roof. Between this roof and those of the side naves there was a row of windows to illuminate the interior of the basilica. The entire construction was made of brick except for the marble columns and the roof with wooden carpentry that does not generate lateral forces. The bishop of Rome, followed by his clergy, entered in procession through the central nave until they reached the large apse where they had their seats and the altar to celebrate the ceremony, while the faithful used the side aisles closest to the central nave and the catechumens used the outermost naves, which apparently were separated by curtains placed in the intercolumnia. If Constantine I financed this basilica, it was built with economy and you can see capitals of various styles that seem rescued. A transversal space, the transept is not very characterized but marks the separation between the faithful and the celebration space. A mural painting by Gaspard Dughet in the Basilica of San Martino ai Monti") shows the interior of Saint John Lateran before 1650.

Constantinian basilicas

In this way, the Christian basilica was used for a single ritual, unlike the Roman civil basilica which had had various public services. One of the models that is believed to have been most used for the origin of the Christian basilica was the civil basilica of Constantine of Trier, built in the year 310 with a rectangular space and a large semicircular apse that housed the throne of the Roman emperor. It was built with the stones of older buildings, and was not an isolated building, but in the late Antiquity era it was part of the imperial palace enclosure: the vestiges of the adjacent buildings were uncovered in the 1980s and are still visible today. Some traces of mortar that covered the original bricks, as well as some ancient features, were preserved.[29]​.

During these same years Constantine promoted the construction of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls over the tomb of Saint Paul, who was buried after being martyred in a large necropolis that occupied the entire area of ​​the basilica and the area surrounding it. An aedicule, cella memoria, was built at his tomb along the Via Ostiense. On this place and due to the terrain, the basilica was a little smaller than that of the apostle Saint Peter, with only three naves, a fact that was modified in the year 390 during the time of Theodosius, building a larger church with five naves and a transept, but leaving the altar over the saint's tomb, as was customary, like the one dedicated to Saint Peter. Pope Siricius I consecrated the building. This basilica was destroyed in a fire in 1823, saving the apse, altar and the crypt where the body of Saint Paul was located, with the rest being completely rebuilt.[69]​.

Saint Agnes Outside the Walls was built in the middle of the century on the catacombs of the Via Nomentana where said saint was buried. The basilica is smaller than those of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It is semi-underground, has three naves and at the top of the lateral ones is the gallery for women. The columns that separate the naves are made of different marbles with different colors and in the apse mosaics are preserved from a reconstruction carried out by Pope Honorius I in the middle of the century, in which three isolated figures are represented, in the center Saint Agnes and at her sides Popes Symmachus and Honorius I, with a golden background typical of Byzantine art.[70]​.

Basilicas in the Holy Land

Constantine also contributed to the construction of other churches in the Holy Land, such as that of the Nativity in commemoration of the birth of Jesus in the city of Bethlehem and in Jerusalem that of the Holy Sepulcher to honor the tomb of Christ, where the emperor himself had given instructions to ensure that this temple was "the most beautiful basilica on earth."[71]

Post-Constantinian basilicas

They are the basilicas built between the middle of the century and the , which are larger than those of previous times. Some of the best-known constructions of this stage were carried out under the papacy of Sixtus III.

An example of these is the basilica of Santa María Maggiore, which was founded by Pope Sixtus III, in the year 432, shortly after the dogma of divine motherhood had been established at the Council of Ephesus (431), being the first basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary "Mary (mother of Jesus)"). It has a basilica plan with three naves and a linteled Ionic colonnade with a smooth shaft. The pilasters in the skylight area are of a more refined style than in previous basilicas; It is the basilica that best represented the new changes in the early Christian style, but today we find it very modified. Inside, one of the main works is the cycle of mosaics on the life of the Virgin, which dates back to the century and still shows the characteristics of the late Roman art style. About ten years earlier, in 422, a small basilica dedicated to Saint Sabina had begun to be built on Mount Aventine, in which more harmonious proportions and great sobriety can be seen in various details such as the beautiful capitals of the Corinthian columns reused from a previous temple. Following the characteristics of early Christian architecture, Santa Sabina has completely smooth walls built with bricks, without buttresses, since the roof is made of wood and, therefore, not very heavy. The only thing that stands out on the outside is the row of windows with semicircular arches.[72]​.

Cathedral groups - Baptisteries

The cathedrals of the bishops form groups of several important cultural buildings, to which are added secular buildings with a palace reserved for the bishop and the bishop's residence as its core. The remains of the palaces of Lateran, of Salona (in Dalmatia), of Side (in Pamphylia), of Gerasa and of Bosra (in Palestine "Palestine (region)"), of Djemila (in North Africa), allow us to know at least the plants.

In Ruan, in the basilica of Victricius at the end of the century, a first sanctuary was added on the site of the current cathedral. In Lyon, the episcopal group of the Early Middle Ages consisted of a baptistery and two churches, one of which is located under the cathedral of Saint-Jean. In Nantes, Grenoble, Reims and Narbonne, the discovery of baptisteries suggests the presence of a sanctuary in the same area.

In 'Trier', the episcopal group has two parallel basilicas with an atrium, the baptistery being 18 m on a side between the two buildings for a length of the entire group of 160 m by 100 m wide.

In Algeria, Tunisia and Tripolitania, there were already a large number of bishops in the century due to a very active municipal life. 300 Christian basilicas are excavated and identified, but only four groups of cathedrals are certain: Tipasa, Djémila, Sbeitla et Sabratha and thirty more are possible.

In Geneva, at the end of the century - beginning of the century, after the Germanic migrations, Geneva changed its status and the new port made it possible to route blocks of materials taken from the old abandoned buildings of Nyons, which were used to build an enclosure on the hill that was leveled into several terraces to construct important buildings.

To the north was the residence of a powerful inhabitant of the city with an apartment, rooms and probably a place of worship reserved for the first Christians. The destruction was later authorized in part to build a church.

This first sanctuary from the middle or third quarter of the century has an irregular plan since it was established in existing buildings. The entrance is accessed through a portico that leads to the annexes attached to the choir. To the south, a rectangular piece has a particularly careful mortar and tile floor. Then, to the east of this building, a surmounted apse is added. The traces may evoke the presence of a baptistery.

This first church will define a new urban organization of Geneva.

At the beginning of the century, the episcopal group was formed whose baptistery seemed to mark the center. This group includes two cathedrals on either side of an atrium, the bishop's residence with its chapel and meeting rooms. The complex is completed with the homes of the ecclesiastics. The North church is intended for services and the meeting of the faithful and the South for readings and the teaching of the catechumens.

La función de estos edificios exentos y cercanos a un templo, por lo general de planta circular, aunque los había también octogonales, correspondía a la administración del bautismo por inmersión, por lo que en su centro siempre se situaba una gran pila bautismal, pues en aquella época este sacramento se celebraba en personas adultas y por inmersión completa. Su cubierta solía ser una cúpula y estaban ornamentados con mosaicos y pinturas.[80]​.

Baptistery of Saint John Lateran

Pope Sixtus III (434-440) was the promoter of the construction of works on previous buildings, as is the case with this Lateran baptistery built on an ancient circular structure from the time of Constantine around the year 312, next to the archbasilica of San Juan de Lateran. It constitutes one of the best examples of a centralized plan built in the century, becoming a model for other baptisteries.[81]​ The building rebuilt by Pope Sixtus III has a centralized plan with an octagonal shape. This center is surrounded by an ambulatory with eight porphyry columns—from other demolished buildings—, on which the clerestory is located. Still in the double apses of the vestibule, you can see remains of a mosaic with decoration of intertwined branches. Pope Hilary (p. 461-468) built the chapels dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist.[82]​.

Neonian and Arian Baptisteries

Both baptisteries are located in the city of Ravenna, capital of the Roman Empire in the century, and have been inscribed by UNESCO on the 1996 World Heritage list among the early Christian monuments of Ravenna.[83]​ Of all these buildings, the two baptisteries are believed to be the oldest in construction.[84]​.

The Neonian Baptistery according to the ICOMOS evaluation: "It is the best and most complete surviving example of a baptistery from the early days of Christianity" that "retains the fluidity in the representation of the human figure derived from Greco-Roman art." The same body in the evaluation for the Arian Baptistery says: "The iconography of the mosaics, whose quality is excellent, is important because it illustrates the Holy Trinity, a somewhat unexpected element in the art of an Arian building, given that the Trinity was not accepted by this doctrine."[85]

• - Neonian Baptistery.

• - Arian Baptistery.

• - Dome of the Neonianno Baptistery.

• - Dome of the Arian Baptistery.

One of the baptisteries, the so-called Neonian, was intended for the Orthodox and the other for the Arians, the latter having it built by King Theodoric the Great at the end of the century. In the year 565 after the condemnation of the Arian cult, this structure was converted into a Catholic oratory "Oratory (religion)") with the name of Saint Mary. The Neonian or Orthodox Baptistery was built by Bishop Neone. Both have the octagonal plan, the most used in almost all the baptisteries of early Christian art, due to its symbology of the seven days of the week plus the day of the resurrection, thus relating the number eight with God and the Resurrection, with the baptismal font being found in the center of the plan. They were built on the outside with bricks with almost no ornamentation and on the inside their walls are covered with rich mosaics and also in the dome where in both buildings the scene of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by Saint John the Baptist is represented in both buildings.[86]​.

The baptistery is at the heart of the episcopal device, the fundamental element, the place of passage between the profane and the sacred, belonging to the Christian community. You can understand the rites of passage of the Christian catechumen in the patriarchal basilica of Aquileia") of the 19th century.[87]​ The future Christian passes in the South room covered with mosaics, of which a cross section in the background shows the story of Jonah "Jonah (prophet)") swallowed by the whale, spit out and then sleeping. It symbolizes baptism, before, during and after becoming another man. After this step of reflection and immersion in the baptistery, the new Christian was welcomed by the Christian community and could attend the Eucharist in the North room.

In the later Salone cathedral group), catechumens entered from the outside through a narthex in a reception room, then passed to a second room with benches located in the bishop's passage, then to another small room with benches and finally entered the font. The new Christians made a station in front of a niche in the baptistery and entered the basilica to continue the celebration of the Eucharist.

• - Jonah "Jonah (prophet)" spit out by the whale and then sleeping, Aquilea").

• - Kelibia Baptistery Pond").

In Ravenna two baptisteries of the same type were erected, that of the cathedral known as the Baptistery of the Orthodox and that of the Arians.

The Orthodox Baptistery built in the first quarter of the century forms a square with rounded corners and the four niches that occupy these corners are poorly developed in elevation. They let the octagon release and rise to a considerable height. The connection of the walls and the dome is particularly intelligent to give an effect of continuity to the whole. The straight walls seem to have been reinforced to the base of this dome that dates back to the origin of the octagon.

The Baptistery of the Arians, built around the year 500, is of similar construction but without the elevation of the walls because the architects were obliged to take up the weight and horizontal efforts of the dome to move it over the continuous walls. The particular development of one of the apses shows the growing influence of the liturgy on architecture since in the origin of this type of plan, no reason affects the regularity of the layout of the geometric figures of the central plan.[60]​.

In France, the baptistries of the Rhône Valley belong to the same group as those of northern Italy. They constitute the same family and the dissemination of this type reveals the unity of the tradition that governs early Christian art throughout the Mediterranean.

In Marseille, near the Episcopal church today the Major), the octagonal baptistery from the end of the century has considerable dimensions exceeding those of the Lateran baptistery. The Mariana baptistery in Corsica is of the same type.

The baptisteries of Aix-en-Provence and Fréjus date from the beginning of the century and that of Riez is later. Fréjus"), of almost unique conservation, contributes to the knowledge of early Christian architecture in Gaul. It is square on the outside, octagonal on the inside with alternately flat and rounded exedras. A dome rests on the eight corners of the walls.[88]​.

The configuration of the Merovingian baptistery of Poitiers is found where excavations have shown the characteristic foundations of the century and of the century in the Cimiez baptistery in Nice installed in any room of a previous Gallo-Roman monument. It is an ordinary rectangular thermal bath room with, in the center, a vaulted ciborium "Ciborio (architecture)") crowning a hexagonal vat.[89]​.

At Portbail in Normandy, the discovery of a baptistery dated to the 17th century is important for the study of the development of Christianity to the English Channel. The octagonal font is located in a polygon whose northwest and southwest corners are occupied by apsidioles. The main opening between the two apsidioles opens into a vestibule and a small door opens in the southeast wall.[90]​.

The Baptistery of Nevers is a late-century example.[91]​.

In Africa, baptisteries are small independent vaulted buildings attached to a basilica.

In Tunisia, in Tabarka, it is octagonal and in Henchir Rhiria square. In Djemila, the building has preserved its vaults. The baptismal font surmounted by a ciborium "Ciborium (architecture)") is located in a circular room. It is surrounded by an annular gallery with a barrel vault and is adorned with 36 niches that serve as seats and changing rooms.[60] There are also rosette or polylobed baptisteries as in Acholla.[92]​.

Los mausoleos son edificios funerarios con carácter monumental que solían edificarse sobre el lugar donde estaba enterrado un personaje histórico, héroe o gobernante y que asociado a la figura de un mártir tomaba el nombre de martyrium. Se acudía allí a venerar bien su cuerpo o sus reliquias. En ocasiones actuaba de cenotafio y el cuerpo se encontraba sepultado en otro lugar. Uno de los martyrium más antiguos de los que se tiene constancia es el de San Pedro, datado hacia el año 200. Se encuentra bajo la basílica de San Pedro de la Ciudad del Vaticano.[93]​ Estos edificios inspirados en los antiguos originales heroa clásicos y el espacio hipetro del templo egipcio, fueron adaptados a las necesidades del culto funerario para la veneración cristiana.[94]​ Con la legalización del cristianismo, debido a la herencia clásica de los mausoleos romanos, empiezan a proliferar estos enterramientos ya en un contexto cristiano.

Martyria and centered plant

The martyria and memoria are buildings linked to the cult of saints and the memory of the powerful. Christian emperors considered it their duty to erect shrines and funerary monuments just as their pagan predecessors had done with temples and mausoleums. They created a specific architecture, mainly with a centralized plan and covered with vaults and domes.

The buildings and ornamentation around the tombs and relics of saints had an important influence on religious art in both East and West. To honor their martyrs, Christians were inspired by the architecture and decoration of pagan heroes, in a period of transition from art to Christianity.

There are two kinds of martyria, those that actually contain the relics of the martyr and those that are raised in a place sanctified by the presence of divinity as places of decisive events in the life of Christ or the Apostles.

The relic puts the faithful in contact with the heavenly world. In early martirya, the relics were beneath a simple slab pierced with holes for libations. With the legalization of Christianity by Constantine in the Edict of Milan, buildings with different floor plans were erected throughout Christendom. Due to the objects that pilgrims obtained as a sign of pilgrimage in these places, there was a great dissemination of ideas, models and iconography around all of Christendom, promoting a great dissemination of certain images, which were subsequently adapted and resignified.[95]​.

The oldest martyria preserve the primitive plans, a square room surrounded by walls in Kaoussié near Antioch, open to the outside with arcades in Nisibe, under a ciborium "Cyborium (architecture)") in Saint John of Ephesus, under a building covered with a vault in Bagawat and Baduit.

In the centuries and there are elongated rectangular rooms, with underground cellars and floors reserved for worship with access by an external staircase like that of Marusinac in the Salone").

From 350, when the cult of the cross became widespread, the cross plan was very common in all its variants with symbolic intention. The rectangular hall of Kaoussié is elongated with four rooms that form a cross. The most magnificent plan is that of the Basilica of Saint Simon Stylites in Kalaat-Seman.

The first, commanded by Constantine and his family, are examples of this plant typology. Some are the martyrium of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the rotunda of the church of Saint Constance in Rome, where the round hall is covered with a dome supported by a barrel-vaulted ambulatory or the mausoleum of Saint Helena. This octagonal building is covered with a dome of the same type as Santa Constance that rests on eight columns. In Spain, near Tarragona, a rotunda possibly of the same imperial origin has a hexagonal dome on the inside and a square plan on the outside.[60] This type of rotunda derives from Roman funerary rotundas. The Theodosian dynasty adopted this custom and built two circular mausoleums near St. Peter's in Rome for members of the imperial family.

From the martyria to the central floor churches.

The transmission of the architectural forms of the martyria to the churches is linked to the celebration of the liturgy in front of or on the body of the martyr. This centralized plant also has a symbolic meaning. This being the starting point, it is adopted differently in the East and the West. In the East, the martyria are attached to the churches, generally at the level of the heads as an autonomous architecture. The churches are built in the form of a martyria around a preceding martyrium as in Saint John of Ephesus or included in a cruciform church as in Hosios David of Thessaloniki that Justinian covers with five domes, or of hexagonal plans in Saints Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople and in Basilica of San Vital "Basilica of San Vital (Ravenna)") in Ravenna[97].

In Rome, the church of Santo Stefano Rotondo, ordered to be built by Pope Simplicio "Simplicio (pope)") (468-483 AD) adopts a circular plan and includes a double nave forming a sort of Greek cross within the circumference of the building.

In Ravenna, two buildings: the cruciform mausoleum of Gala Placidia, continuing the Roman family burials and the basilica of San Vital "Basilica di San Vital (Ravenna)"), begun in 532, being the last sanctuary in Ravenna with a centralized plan. In the center of the building it consists of an octagonal drum on which a dome rests, filled with empty vases in the Roman manner to lighten the weight. Ravenese architects are influenced by both the classical heritage and the new Byzantine typologies.

In Thessaloniki, the sanctuaries adopted the central plan and the vaulting, although the largest example in the city, the church of Saint George is only an adaptation to the Christian cult of the mausoleum of the pagan emperor Galerius and has become an isolated work in Christian architecture. The oratory of Hosios David reflects the eastern influence and already announces the most common Byzantine churches in the Middle Ages, due to its square plan, with an inscribed cross, and those barrel vaults systematically distributed around a more slender central vault, also reminiscent of some Ravenese buildings such as the masuosleum of Gala Palcidia.[60]​.

Mausoleum of Saint Constance

It was erected as a mausoleum around 350 by Constantine to house the remains of his daughter Constance. It has a circular structure topped by a 22.50 m dome where a drum rises in which windows open to provide natural light to the building. The center of the floor housed the red porphyry sarcophagus from Constance, currently transferred to the Vatican Museums.[98] The central part is surrounded by an ambulatory formed by double columns and a second circle delimited by a thick wall that includes numerous niches, as well as smaller windows than those of the central dome. These circles are covered by a barrel vault decorated with mosaics representing vintage scenes, plant and animal motifs, and putti.[99]​.

Mausoleum of Constantine or Church of the Holy Apostles

To serve as his own mausoleum, Emperor Constantine had the ancient Church of the Holy Apostles built at the highest point next to the walls of Constantinople. This mausoleum was replaced by a new church in the time of Justinian I and later by a mosque in 1469, so nothing remains of the original mausoleum. The description is found in the work De Vita Constantini, τέσσαρες), a panegyric by Eusebius of Caesarea. It had a Greek cross plan, the arm that corresponded to the entrance was slightly longer than the other three, in the central part the emperor's porphyry sarcophagus must have been installed, flanked by cenotaphs or tombstones with the names of the apostles, Constantine occupying thirteenth place. It was made with the idea of ​​becoming a heroon where the emperor rested as a hero under the sign of the cross. Later this position was changed, when true relics of the apostles were brought to the church in 356, and Constantine's remains were moved to a separate mausoleum near the church. This new accommodation already corresponded to the traditional funerary approach, offering a circular floor plan covered with a dome.[100]​.

In the diagram that the historian Crippa shows us of the original mausoleum, she indicates the presence of a dome in each of the arms of the cross. Thus it consists of four domes surrounding the dome with a height slightly smaller than its height, something already in Byzantine tradition. In addition, Crippa also proposes a floor plan with a ring or peripheral corridor that surrounds the entire internal space as an ambulatory.[101]​.

Mausoleum of Gala Placidia

Built around the year 425 in Ravenna, it has been a World Heritage Site since 1996. It is built annex to the narthex of the Church of the Holy Cross. It is dedicated to San Lorenzo and houses three sarcophagi, which although they were believed to belong to the imperial family of Gala Placidia, historiography has opened this to debate, since they are in all probability after the construction of the building, although it remains eternally linked to the name of the empress.[102]​.

It has a cross plan with the entrance arm somewhat longer and in the transept there is a dome. It stands out for its impressive interior mosaics, very well preserved, which show different biblical scenes and iconographic themes of early Christianity.[103]​.

• - Mausoleum of Saint Constance, Rome.

• - Mausoleum of Gala Placidia, Ravenna.

• - Istanbul, Saints Sergius and Bacchus, Istanbul.

• - Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna.

• - Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna.

Monasticism

The origins of Christian monasticism, whose vestiges date back to the first centuries of the religion, carried the medieval phenomenon in germ and were also a test bed for a new architectural typology. It was an escape from the world and the foundation of a Christian experience that would not really emerge in the Roman Empire until the next century and allowed the glory of the martyrs to be prolonged by that of the saints. Antonio and Pacoma") were the first two figures to incarnate the forms of anchorite and cenobite.

In the 19th century, the communities experienced a growing expansion and the groups established themselves in the cities, in rustic houses in the countryside where they organized a system of collecting isolated cells. The first cloisters where buildings were distributed without any specific order appeared in Syria and Asia Minor. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Church sought to subdue and organize that community life.

Egypt aroused an intense fascination for its members scattered in the desert, first completely isolated anchorites, then organized in colonies and finally reunited in monasteries by the work of Pacoma. Small communities were organized in Palestine and in the urban areas of the West around a bishop such as Eusebius in Vercelli, Vitricius in Rouen, Martin in Tours, Ambrose in Milan, Paulin in Nole and Augustine in Hippo. Their life together was marked by the liturgy and they were organized by a hierarchy in a building that took the name monasterium. In the West, religious people maintained a close bond with the bishop and the liturgy of their basilicas, one of the consequences of which was the founding of the orders of regular canons.[8]​.

In Egypt, the cradle of monasticism, some people went to the desert or gathered around hermits and then passed from hermitism to the community of life of cenobites.

At the beginning of the century, a Byzantine count founded the White and Red convents (Deir el-Abiad and Deir Al-Ahmar) near Sohag. Although the convent buildings have disappeared, the churches of a similar floor plan remain surrounded by a perimeter wall that completely masks the interior in the manner of Egyptian temples. The facades are marked by two rows of false rectangular windows in the White Convent and round ones in the Red Convent, which owes its name to the brick used instead of the limestone recovered from the old temples of the White Convent.

In the Blanco convent, the triconque at the head of the church is presented as an autonomous, solid aedicule that opens onto the nave for a section. The nave is a very long room, bordered on three sides by colonnades. This colonnade, which may evoke the synagogues of Palestine "Palestine (region)"), seems rather to come from pharaonic temples, like the installation of a transverse massif in place of the narthex, which recalls the pylons.

The altarpiece of the presbytery and the interior decoration of the walls and the vestibule are of Hellenistic inspiration with polychrome marble coverings, small columns and tabernacles. If the effect produced by this massive headboard is Egyptian, inside, its floor plan and decoration link it to the tradition of Gallo-Roman funerary triconcas. There you can see the inspiration of a martyrium or a memorial, of someone who houses the tomb of the founder, the great Coptic monk Shenute.

Clay architecture

Often in the desert, where stones and wood are lacking, buildings are made of baked clay bricks.

Near Aswan in Egypt, the monastery of Saint Simeon is made of raw earth, only the pillars are made of stone and everything indicates that it was completely vaulted. In the existing apses and apses the bricks can be seen forming very light vaults. In plan, this basilica has a counter-apse whose function is poorly defined.

Between Luxor and Cairo, in the oasis of Al-Kharga") and in a funerary context, the necropolis of El-Bagawat has remained intact. The basilica built with baked clay bricks was obviously vaulted and there are still many vaulted monuments, some with an atrium. The funerary shafts show the conservation of ancient Egyptian practices.[19]​[109]​.

• - Aswan, monastery of Saint Simeon.

• - Aswan, monastery of Saint Simeon.

• - Oasis of Al-Kharga"), necropolis of El-Bagawat, nave of the basilica.

• - El-Bagawat, funerary monument.

• - Al-Kharga Oasis), El-Bagawat necropolis, façade of the basilica.

See also

• - Pre-Romanesque art.

• - Early Christian art.

• - Early Christianity.

• - Paleochristian archeology").

• - Church with a basilica plan.

• - Church with a central plan.

• - Portal:Christian architecture"). Content related to Christianity.

• - In Spanish:.

• - Other languages:

• Atelier. (n.d.). La basilique paléochrétienne Saint-Pierre de Vienne (Isère), nouvelles recherches. https://atelier-archeo-alpine.com/la-basilique-paleochretienne-saint-pierre-de-vienne-isere-nouvelles-recherches

• Hernández, G. F. (2010). The construction of the Theodosian basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. Carthaginensia: Journal of Studies and Research, 26(49), 169-172.

• Herrera, B. O. C. Architectural and liturgical sculpture in the late antique basilica of Casa Herrera (Mérida, Badajoz). News contributed since the review of mnar1 funds. White page 1, 291.

• Iturgaiz, D. (1967). Early Christian Baptisteries of Hispania. Analecta sacra tarraconensia, 40(2), 209-295.

• Karivieri, A. (2006). The Ilissos Basilica and the introduction of Christian iconography in Athens.

• Masi, S. (2000). Rome and the Vatican: art and history. Editrice Bonechi House.

• Mirabella Roberti, M. (1972). Paleochristian architecture in Istria. Antichità Altoadriatiche.

• Pedone, S. (2018). A unique bottega of Byzantine pencils dedicated to Hierapolis Ephesus and Sardinia. Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia, 30(16 NS), 217-236.

• - This work contains a translation derived from «Paleochristian Architecture» from Wikipedia in Catalan, specifically this version, published by its editors under the GNU Free Documentation License and the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The Roman Empire and the development of Christianity

Christianity had been founded in the lands of Zion from Jewish tradition. The sect, at that time, recruited its members among the Jews and Saint Paul, born in Tarsus and therefore a Roman citizen, spread the word of Christ on his travels and baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He died in Rome in the year 64. In the first part of the first century, the development of this oriental cult was already considerable within and even outside the Roman Empire. The East, that is, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor were the regions where there were the most Christians, followed to a lesser extent by Greece and Macedonia "Macedonia (region)").

During the fire of Rome in 64, Nero took advantage of the bad reputation of the Christians to accuse them; then in 95 Domitian pursued them again. Under Trajan and in the 19th century, under the Stoic Marcus Aurelius, those who persisted in their errors were condemned. Between 200 and 202, Septimius Severus banned Christian proselytism, then between 260 and 302 a period of peace reigned. In 303 or 304, Diocletian and his colleagues Maximian Hercules, Constantius Chlorus and especially Galerius published four edicts generalizing the persecutions to the entire empire. They were terrible, except in Gaul and Britain. During that long period, since Christians refused to sacrifice to the pagan deities of the Empire, they played a discreet role in the official world. They formed communities far from the pagans, celebrating their worship in private homes, and rejecting cremation like the Jews, they developed catacombs to bury their dead. In them are the first manifestations of Christian art. Since the 19th century, public worship and churches such as Dura Europos[4]​ near the Euphrates, before 256, were seen appearing.

But the Christians were already very numerous and in 311, the edict of tolerance of Galerius, followed in 313 by the edict of Milan marked the end of the persecution; The edict granted them religious freedom, the restitution of their property, and measures were taken against the pagans. It was signed by Constantine I the Great (r. 306-337) and Licinius (r. 308-324), leaders of the Western and Eastern Roman empires, respectively. At the time of the promulgation there were nearly 1,500 episcopal sees in the Empire and at least five to seven million inhabitants of the fifty that made up the empire professed Christianity. After approval, the stage known by Christian historians as the Peace of the Church began. The First Council of Nicaea in 325, which was presided over by the emperor with 220 Eastern bishops and two Roman priests, recognized the divinity of Christ and his consubstantiality with the Father. Constantine, although he was baptized when he was already on his deathbed, after a long catechumenate, became the first Christian emperor, a sign of religious victory.

After the reign of several pagan emperors, the first council of Constantinople in 381 completed that of Nicaea. At the death of Theodosius I in 395, when most of the Empire was already Christian, and even further afield with Armenia, Assyria, Mesopotamia and Persia, the Empire itself was in serious crisis and the East separated from the West. The so-called "barbarian" peoples, arriving from Central Asia, invaded the divided empire: the East, which preserved the Greco-Roman civilization, resisted while the West collapsed, becoming barbarian while remaining Christian. The pope's role was to maintain unity between those two different worlds that communicated little with each other.

Less than a century later, Clovis I, pagan king of the Franks, was baptized and with the support of the Roman clergy conquered Gaul.

In the 2nd century, the Iberian Peninsula was devastated by invasions, but the Visigothic Church did not experience decline. In Africa, the life of Christians was increasingly clandestine as the Arab invasion destroyed it. Italy suffered several barbarian invasions before its reconquest by Justinian (r. 527-565) in 535, who subjected the Church to his authority in the face of a weakened papacy until the arrival of Pope Gregory the Great (p. 590-602), who evangelized England. In France, after the reign of the Merovingian king Dagobert I (r. 629-639), the Frankish church was in complete decline.

In the East, where the West was seen as a pale figure compared to the Byzantine Church, the basileus was considered an equal to the pope until the rule of Justinian, who wanted to achieve the religious unity of the Empire. He protected the church and its orthodoxy, fighting against pagans and heretics. Such was the case of the emperors Heraclius (r. 610-641), Constans II (641-648), Leontius (r. 695-698) and Leo III "Leo III (emperor)") (717-751). To these claims, the papacy and also the Western clergy fiercely resisted.[5][6]​.

In the 19th century, with the support of the papacy, Charlemagne reestablished the Holy Roman Empire and expressed his power using early Christian references in Carolingian architecture.

Roman architectural context

With Trajan (r. 53-117), the era of Rome's expansion policy reached its peak but it was also its end and art became retrospective. The temple erected by Antoninus Pius (r. 86-161) in 142 was not particularly original. The shaking of the Empire caused by the wars against the barbarians under the last Antonian emperors caused the abandonment of the construction of important monuments in the capital while in the southern and eastern provinces, there was strong construction activity. Private architecture took on new importance with the new funerary rites, and the shift from cremation to burial in coffins entailed the construction of entire rows of small temples along the various routes leading out of the cities.

Only Septimius Severus was able, after consolidating his power, to tackle large projects such as the baths of Caracalla in 206. In the rest of the century, official activity was applied to the reconstruction or rehabilitation of existing buildings and architects did not look for new solutions at the end of the century and beginning of the century. The Arch of Constantine from 315 is part of the series of fixed and rectilinear constructions of the time. But, in the late Constantinian era, a new spirit was already animating the architecture that could be found both in vaulted buildings and in buildings with flat roofs, such as the basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, the last late evolution of an already existing type that will consequently prove rich when used as a model in a new context.

The Constantinian basilica, as erected in Rome in Saint John Lateran, in the first Saint Peter and in Saint Paul Outside the Walls, constitutes the transfer, in the sacred domain, of the Aula of the imperial palaces. It should not be understood as a derivative of the Italic market basilica, which was a large room surrounded by columns, but of the Constantinian basilica that was clearly oriented towards the apse and which was divided into three, five or even seven naves by columns that stopped at the entrance wall and at the head. Unlike the Roman market basilica, the roof was high with an attic that allowed openings to be made and provided ample lighting for the nave. Until the time of Justinian, this form was preferred for large churches.

It was the legacy of the divine Roman Empire to the new lord of the world, Jesus Christ, whom Constantine I considered himself his vicar. The spiritual and political forces that made Roman architecture progress led, therefore, to another evolution that was already announced in the East.[7]​.

The Jewish influence

Initially, Christians mixed Judaic rites with new elements of worship to soon achieve complete emancipation from Old Testament law. The preachings of the apostle Paul of Tarsus touched the Jews and the ancient pagans. The first prayer meetings were held in local synagogues. The community of Ephesus, in Asia Minor, was the first, among those evangelized by Paul, to acquire its autonomy from Judaism when the faithful stopped frequenting the local synagogue. It will be the homes of the members of the Christian community that from then on will host the sermons and celebrations.[8]​.

Historians of Christian art gave little place to Jewish antecedents, since the divorce between Jews and Christians was ancient and deep. But historians and liturgists never doubted the frequent contacts between both religions until the end of the century or the profound influences of synagogal Judaism on early Christian worship. The discovery at the archaeological site of Dura Europos of a domus ecclesiae and a synagogue confirmed this influence of Jewish iconography.

The precocity of the cult architecture of the Jews over that of the Christians was normal. The Roman State officially recognized the Jewish religion and therefore allowed the construction of its places of worship, having to wait until 313 for Christians to enjoy those same rights. As soon as tolerance was extended to Christians, they were provided with buildings of the same type.

No basilica-type building applied to synagogues has been found in Dura Europos but in Galilee. The oldest ones are from around the year 200, where you can see an elongated rectangular building divided into three naves in the longitudinal direction. At the head, a cabinet was intended to receive the Torah scrolls. The differences between the basilicas and the synagogues were the elevation of the central nave compared to the side naves - which allowed clerestories to illuminate it - and the connection of the colonnades through a transverse portico as in the synagogue of Capernaum. At that time, the synagogues had the entrance door oriented towards Jerusalem and in the first Christian basilicas they also did so, although later they began to face west, illuminating the altar with morning light.

The basilica building was widely spread throughout the Empire and was adapted to all needs. It must have satisfied the demands of the Jewish and Christian cults.[9]​.

Domus ecclesiae and synagogue in Dura Europos

The evidence from the ruins of Dura Europos has considerable historical significance. At that time the domus ecclesiae of the Christians resembled other houses in the city with one or two rooms on the ground floor reserved for Christian worship without it being possible with certainty to derive its functions, except for those of a long room that served as a baptistery with wall paintings and furniture. It is an architecture from the first half of the century that has nothing specifically Christian about it other than the decoration and a masonry piece of furniture in the baptism room.

The neutrality of this domus ecclesiae of Dura contrasts with the neighboring synagogue, which is practically from the same period. It is installed in an ordinary house but in a much larger complex of secular constructions. This architectural organization is not found among Christians. The synagogue is separated from the rest of the building by continuous walls. It includes a patio with three porches and in the background a large room that is wider than it is deep. Two doors, one for the men and probably another for the women, led to it. On the back wall, a niche-ciborium "Ciborio (architecture)") served to house the Torah cabinet. A bench attached to the wall surrounded the entire hall of the synagogue.[9]​.

Contenido

Los primeros desarrollos del arte cristiano, que en origen no fueron más que una rama del arte antiguo y que nacieron con el peso milenario de las costumbres del arte mediterráneo, estaban vinculados a las necesidades del culto y a las condiciones en las que se ejercía. Y dependía de la situación de los cristianos en relación con el poder imperial.

En torno al año 200 hasta alrededor del 260 y 313, cuando el emperador Constantino, junto con Licinio, decretaron el Edicto de Milán (313).[10]​ Este les dio libertad de culto a los cristianos, los cuales habían vivido una vida semi-clandestina. Por lo que, su período de expansión llegó hasta el año 380, cuando el Edicto promulgado por Teodosio I (Edicto de Tesalónica, 380)[11]​ reconoció al cristianismo como religión oficial del Imperio Romano.

La salida de la clandestinidad se realizó de forma paulatina hasta el 330, fecha del edicto imperial que establecía el cristianismo como religión oficial del Estado. Luego en el 391, llegó la prohibición del culto pagano. En el último período, el desarrollo de las iglesias o de las basílicas que sustituyeron a las antiguas domus ecclesiae, fue espectacular.

El arte paleocristiano fue un arte bastante extendido que deriva del carácter universal de esa religión.[12]​ En Occidente, habrá que esperar a principios de la Edad Media para ver una evolución con la aparición de las obras de influencia bárbara, a partir de las cuales se inició una nueva etapa del arte cristiano, que se manifiesta en los estilos románico y gótico. En Oriente, sin embargo, se mantuvieron las tradiciones bajo la influencia del estilo bizantino, debido a la resistencia que mostraron ante las invasiones bárbaras.[13]​.

Catacombs

The catacombs were born in Rome at the end of the century with Pope Cepherinus (199-217 AD) but none of their funerary themes are before the year 200. ecclesiae)*. However, certain sources claim that they did not serve as a refuge during the persecutions of Christians, but rather it is a later belief.

Most of the catacombs in Rome are located underground along the great roads leading out of the city, such as the Appian Way, the Via Ardeatina, the Via Salaria and the Via Nomentana. The catacombs, along with the sarcophagi, are the perfect example of how Christianity is presented as a modus vivirdi (way of life) and the ars morendi (die well) dedicated to the obsession with life, death and the afterlife.

They are made up of galleries with niches in the walls, called loculi, which were generally intended to house a single corpse, and arranged one on top of the other. They were located outside the limits that marked the city, since Roman law did not allow burials within the urban area for religious and health reasons.[15] There are not only catacombs in Rome, there are also them in other cities, but those in the current Italian capital are the most numerous and extensive, with sixty catacombs that house nearly 750,000 tombs, expanding to occupy between 150 and 170 kilometers.

Previously it was believed that the catacombs had been built in some old abandoned galleries, from which pozzolan stone was extracted, used to make cement.[16] But studies carried out in the 19th century by the Jesuit Giuseppe Marchi and his student, the archaeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi, concluded that these galleries were made exclusively for use as cemeteries[17] The organization of the first cemetery is attributed to Pope Calixtus I and the date around 200, the study carried out by the archaeologist Paul Styger for the catacomb of San Callisto agrees with this attribution. The use of the catacombs came only after the sacking of Rome "Sacking of Rome (410)") in the year 410 by the Visigoths, since at that time they already had large basilicas, which could be used for funerary services and to store the relics of the martyrs.[18]​.

The bodies of the martyrs were stolen to make relics. There was no worship in the catacombs, only the service of the dead, but not the Eucharist that is practiced in Christian homes (domus ecclesiae)[19]​[20]​.

• - Catacombs of Saint Callixtus, crypt of the popes, Rome.

• - Catacomb of Santa Lucia"), Syracuse.

• - Catacombs of Domitilla, Rome.

• - Arcosolium.

• - Catacombs of Saint Savinilla in Nepi.

The structure of the catacombs is quite chaotic, as it was like a large labyrinth. First, a first level was excavated and it was extended to lower floors following irregular lines due to the terrain, reaching a depth of up to thirty meters. The loculi (niches in the walls) have some exceptions where there was more than one body. These niches were closed with a stone or brick slab, on which inscriptions in Greek or Latin were often found. In addition, there was another type of niche called arcosolium") (arcosolium), this is characterized by having an arch, closed with a tombstone and was intended for more important figures.

The cubiculum was a type of sepulchral chamber that contained several loculi for the same family, they were small chapels decorated with frescoes. These were located at the crossing of passages or galleries. The cubicula were usually square, but there were also circular and polygonal ones. These could house up to 70 loculi on ten levels. Finally, there were small crypts that contained the tomb of a martyr.[18]​ In almost all the catacombs there are open skylights in the ceiling of the crypts or in the galleries themselves, which were initially used to raise to the surface the earth that was extracted during their construction and which were left open to be lighting and ventilation points.[21][22]​.

Most of the catacombs are carved in tuff, both in Rome, where there are about sixty, and in Latium. In Italy, they develop in the south as far as the island of Pianosa, while the most southern hypogea are those of northern Africa and especially in Hadrumète") (Susa) in Tunisia. They are found in Tuscany, in Chiusi; in Umbria "Umbria (Italy)"), near Todi; in Abruzzo, in Amiternum l'Aquila; in Campania, in Naples; in Puglia, in Canosa di Puglia; in Basilicata, in Venosa, where the Jewish and Christian catacombs demonstrate the coexistence of the two religions; in Sicily, in Palermo, Syracuse, Marsala, Agrigento and, in Sardinia, in Cagliari San Antioco").

The decorations that occurred at the end of the 3rd century were extremely simple, with fresco paintings, mosaics and reliefs on the sarcophagi. Symbols were found in most of the graves, with themes such as: eternal salvation, the anchor (symbolizing hope) or Jonah "Jonah (prophet)") saved from the belly of the whale. There were also images of the dove representing peace, the cross and salvation, the phoenix (representing the resurrection from ashes) and the fish and the Good Shepherd (both representing the image of Christ).

The paintings could show scenes from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Among those of the Old Testament are: the sacrifice of Isaac, Noah and his ark, Daniel in the pit with lions, Elijah in his chariot and the three Hebrews Ananias, Mishael and Azariah, in the burning furnace, among others. And, from the New Testament there are scenes such as the evocation of the resurrection of Christ, as well as numerous stories about his life. And, the first image of the Virgin in the catacomb of Priscilla is from the first half of the 3rd century and presents Christ with the symbolism of the Good Shepherd, the martyrs and the Fathers of the Church.[9]​[23][24]​ There are other representations of the Virgin with the Child sitting on her lap, the so-called Theotokos.[25]​.

A good example of a catacomb is that of San Callisto (Rome). This dates back to approximately the year 250 and is the chapel where the first popes of Rome were buried. It was Pope Ceferinus who, with these lands in his possession, commissioned the deacon Calixtus to create a cemetery located next to the Via Appia. This would be administered by the senior hierarchy of the church.

In the Cubicle of the Popes there are reused columns, since the materials with which they were made belonged to the Romans. In addition, the late Roman tradition will be maintained with that fake architecture, which includes pendentives and vertices.

Finally, in the paintings that are found, different scenes are observed such as: Eucharistic banquets, Daniel in the lions' den and the good shepherd, among others.

Christian houses - Domus ecclesiæ - Tituli

The domus ecclesiae was a special type of private building used by early Christians to gather and worship. This "house of the Church" (community of the faithful) was not designed or built for liturgical celebrations, but it did serve the function of a meeting place for the faithful, where different rites could be celebrated. It was a private space with its limitations that could be adapted to needs in a sometimes provisional way.

Some experts observe in the plan of these domus ecclesiæ the antecedent to what is known as the basilica plan in Christian architecture. However, ancient aula, pagan basilicas, scholæ or thermal halls could also become basilicas and could be built on the site of Christian houses. It can be considered that there was no Christian architecture prior to Constantine I, and that it was not the strictly religious needs of the spiritual life or the liturgy that led to the creation of a basilica art imposed on the Church as a necessity. For the Roman emperors, art functioned as a propaganda tool, thus promoting each stage of Roman artistic evolution.

At the archaeological site of Dura Europos, the oldest known church, built in the 2nd century around the year 232, was discovered in 1931 (in the same district as the synagogue and a shrine to Mithras) (it is known due to its architecture, decoration and inscriptions). This was an ancient Hellenistic settlement converted into a Roman border garrison and located near the Euphrates River (today in Syria).

The domus ecclesiae of Dura Europos is a house built in a similar way to the other homes in the place, but larger in size. It is entered from the street through a chicane corridor that opens to a paved patio with a portico on one side. In front of this access, a large door opens towards a large room, this arrangement may recall the eastern diwan "Divan (institution)") in its decoration and symbols, since these do not offend Christian thought. A brick bench runs along the walls, and at one point it rises to mark the place of who was presiding in that place. From the patio you can access another smaller room. Both the patio and this smaller room were used for holding meetings and agapes. There was also a staircase leading to the upper floor (now missing), which is said to have housed the residence of some important person, such as the bishop.

At the time of the construction of this “house of God”, Christians already had a certain freedom that allowed them to have places of worship and cemeteries in common. But, with the exception of baptism, Christian worship did not require a specialized building. In the same room the Eucharist was celebrated and the homilies and sermons were heard, that is, there is no fixed altar or formal separation between clerics and faithful.

Basilicas

With the proclamation in 313 of the Edict of Milan, Christians were able to freely practice their religious worship. During the reign of Constantine I there was a reversal of the treatment given to them by the empire, because Constantine relied entirely on the innovations brought by Christianity. He changed Rome and the world. Before the edict, Constantine had already recognized Christianity as the greatest spiritual force in the entire Empire. He captured the energies about to explode and gave them free rein without suffocating the forces of paganism that were still alive. In the basilica built by Maxentius, the statue of Constantine in the apse replaces the images of Jupiter, but with a look towards the divine. To appropriate this basilica, he added a second apse and a vestibule on the side to transform it into a building with a central nave.

Constantine was the first ruler who placed man at the center of the Universe. The new works no longer sought to translate an external life, subject to organic natural law, to gravity, but rather to create a luminous spiritual universe that transcended terrestrial life. With him at the helm, Christianity and its leaders began to occupy major positions. With public worship allowed and the number of believers increasing every day, the architecture necessary to accommodate them went from simple shelter in private houses to requiring new monumental forms that were inspired by the Roman architecture of the time, taking as a model the basilicas of civic centers with market activities and courtrooms. These new basilicas continue to use the same forms, but with different uses: in Christian buildings, worship and assemblies were carried out inside, while Greco-Roman worship took place outside, around the temple[37].

Despite the large number of Christian temples or basilicas that were built during the century, almost all of them were destroyed or renovated in later centuries.[38]​

It is surprising to find since the 19th century, in all the provinces of the Empire, churches that adopted the same three-nave basilica form. Aesthetically, on the inside, all these basilicas look similar, and it is possible that Christians clung to these types of rooms, because they were suitable for their liturgical meetings. They appreciated the effect that a basilica room produces on those who enter through the middle door: the symmetrical double colonnade in front of them directs their gaze towards the altar table fixed in the background. Since the choir, with its Eucharistic table, is motionless in front of the apse and nothing would better express the idea of ​​a divine stay. The choir would evoke the intelligible sky and the nave would represent the earth or the material universe.[9]​.

The origin of the Christian basilica is controversial, with authors who support an original creation and others who support an imitation of pagan models.

• - For the architect Alberti, the Christian basilica was only the reproduction by Christianity of the judicial basilica of the Romans and this hypothesis was taken up by Viollet-le-Duc, Auguste Choisy or Jules Quicherat"), although they all presented different models. From simple rooms without interior columns, that of Maxentius consists of three vaulted naves; others such as the Basilica Julia are vast porticoes open on all sides and Trajan's Basilica Ulpia It is made up of two opposing apses. This solution does not seem satisfactory to all scholars.

Structure of the basilica

The early Christian basilica in general consisted of three parts: an access atrium, the body of the longitudinal basilica, divided into three or five naves "Nave (architecture)") separated by columns "Column (architecture)"), the central nave always tended to be higher, while above the side naves they sometimes had galleries or tribunes called matroneo especially made for women. In the presbytery "Presbytery (architecture)"), the altar was located. The head was occupied by an apse covered with a quarter-sphere dome. The unbaptized occupied a place before the door of the basilica called the atrium or narthex where there used to be a large basin of water for ablutions. The roof in the construction of the early Christian basilica was usually gabled with a light wooden roof, so its walls were completely smooth and there was no need to build buttresses. The exterior light came from large open windows in the side walls and from the upper part of the central nave through the clerestory. Many of the materials used, such as columns and capitals, were taken from other Roman buildings.

This practice is known as spolia, which consists of the reuse of construction or decorative materials from old buildings or monuments in new ones. This was very common in Antiquity and even more so in the Middle Ages, and they have an ideological sense, to link that architecture with a significant historical moment, or practical, so as not to have to produce new pieces.[42][43]​.

Functionality

The closed architecture corresponding to the Roman civil basilica was used, mainly because the Roman or Greek temple was normally rejected due to its significance contrary to Christianity, but also because the stylistic type was not easy to adjust to the new Christian rite, the pagan sacrifice was carried out on an altar located outside the temple and the interior was used to place the statue of the god to whom their cult was dedicated. Also in the Christian religion, the act of symbolic sacrifice was carried out on an altar for the transubstantiation of wine and bread into the blood and body of Christ, but it had always been carried out in closed places, as it had been carried out in the Holy Supper celebrated by Christ. For the ritual of the century, a path was needed for the processional route of the clergy, one part where the altar was placed and the mass was celebrated, another part for the faithful who participated in the procession and communion and another for the catechumens or the unbaptized.[44]​.

Emperor Constantine himself founded several basilicas in Rome – St. John Lateran (312-319), St. Peter in the Vatican consecrated in 326 – and members of his family did the same. Other churches were founded in Jerusalem: Holy Sepulchre, Basilica of the Nativity, Mount of Olives in 325-337 and in Constantinople: Hagia Sophia, Holy Apostles in 333-337. Constantius II completed some without much haste as popes and bishops built them in Rome and throughout the Empire. Known are the Sanctuary of the Ascension in Jerusalem, Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls, Saint Agnes Outside the Walls, Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls and Saints Peter and Marcellus) in Rome, the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Trier, the Cathedral of Gerasa in Palestine (region)), the Episcopal Church of Epidaurus in Greece and several churches in Syria and even in northern Mesopotamia, including the Baptistery of Nisibis.

In the 19th century, the basilicas were westernized and the entrance façade was to the east, the structure is quite poor with a rich decoration of wall paintings and mosaics.

After the death of Constantine, we will have to wait until the arrival of Theodosius I in the year 379 to find a new, durable and definitive effort to construct the pro-Christian and anti-pagan policy of Theodosius and his successors.[9]​.

The Basilica of Saint John Lateran is built on the site of the palace of the Laterani family. It was confiscated and then given by Emperor Constantine to the bishop of Rome, probably Pope Melquiades I (310-314 AD). In 313, the first council was held there and it became the habitual residence of the popes, the Lateran Palace.

Next to the palace, the basilica dedicated to the Holy Savior was built (the current Basilica of Saint John Lateran), consecrated by Pope Sylvester I. Over time, this basilica has been transformed, but it has been possible to reconstruct the original project, whose plan reflects above all the function: it is a simple building, almost a hundred meters long and about fifty meters wide because it was to house the entire Christian community of Rome in its function as an assembly church. It consisted of a wider central nave and two narrower ones on each side separated by large colonnades; The central nave was higher and had a gabled roof. Between this roof and those of the side naves there was a row of windows to illuminate the interior of the basilica. The entire construction was made of brick except for the marble columns and the roof with wooden carpentry that does not generate lateral forces. The bishop of Rome, followed by his clergy, entered in procession through the central nave until they reached the large apse where they had their seats and the altar to celebrate the ceremony, while the faithful used the side aisles closest to the central nave and the catechumens used the outermost naves, which apparently were separated by curtains placed in the intercolumnia. If Constantine I financed this basilica, it was built with economy and you can see capitals of various styles that seem rescued. A transversal space, the transept is not very characterized but marks the separation between the faithful and the celebration space. A mural painting by Gaspard Dughet in the Basilica of San Martino ai Monti") shows the interior of Saint John Lateran before 1650.

Constantinian basilicas

In this way, the Christian basilica was used for a single ritual, unlike the Roman civil basilica which had had various public services. One of the models that is believed to have been most used for the origin of the Christian basilica was the civil basilica of Constantine of Trier, built in the year 310 with a rectangular space and a large semicircular apse that housed the throne of the Roman emperor. It was built with the stones of older buildings, and was not an isolated building, but in the late Antiquity era it was part of the imperial palace enclosure: the vestiges of the adjacent buildings were uncovered in the 1980s and are still visible today. Some traces of mortar that covered the original bricks, as well as some ancient features, were preserved.[29]​.

During these same years Constantine promoted the construction of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls over the tomb of Saint Paul, who was buried after being martyred in a large necropolis that occupied the entire area of ​​the basilica and the area surrounding it. An aedicule, cella memoria, was built at his tomb along the Via Ostiense. On this place and due to the terrain, the basilica was a little smaller than that of the apostle Saint Peter, with only three naves, a fact that was modified in the year 390 during the time of Theodosius, building a larger church with five naves and a transept, but leaving the altar over the saint's tomb, as was customary, like the one dedicated to Saint Peter. Pope Siricius I consecrated the building. This basilica was destroyed in a fire in 1823, saving the apse, altar and the crypt where the body of Saint Paul was located, with the rest being completely rebuilt.[69]​.

Saint Agnes Outside the Walls was built in the middle of the century on the catacombs of the Via Nomentana where said saint was buried. The basilica is smaller than those of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It is semi-underground, has three naves and at the top of the lateral ones is the gallery for women. The columns that separate the naves are made of different marbles with different colors and in the apse mosaics are preserved from a reconstruction carried out by Pope Honorius I in the middle of the century, in which three isolated figures are represented, in the center Saint Agnes and at her sides Popes Symmachus and Honorius I, with a golden background typical of Byzantine art.[70]​.

Basilicas in the Holy Land

Constantine also contributed to the construction of other churches in the Holy Land, such as that of the Nativity in commemoration of the birth of Jesus in the city of Bethlehem and in Jerusalem that of the Holy Sepulcher to honor the tomb of Christ, where the emperor himself had given instructions to ensure that this temple was "the most beautiful basilica on earth."[71]

Post-Constantinian basilicas

They are the basilicas built between the middle of the century and the , which are larger than those of previous times. Some of the best-known constructions of this stage were carried out under the papacy of Sixtus III.

An example of these is the basilica of Santa María Maggiore, which was founded by Pope Sixtus III, in the year 432, shortly after the dogma of divine motherhood had been established at the Council of Ephesus (431), being the first basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary "Mary (mother of Jesus)"). It has a basilica plan with three naves and a linteled Ionic colonnade with a smooth shaft. The pilasters in the skylight area are of a more refined style than in previous basilicas; It is the basilica that best represented the new changes in the early Christian style, but today we find it very modified. Inside, one of the main works is the cycle of mosaics on the life of the Virgin, which dates back to the century and still shows the characteristics of the late Roman art style. About ten years earlier, in 422, a small basilica dedicated to Saint Sabina had begun to be built on Mount Aventine, in which more harmonious proportions and great sobriety can be seen in various details such as the beautiful capitals of the Corinthian columns reused from a previous temple. Following the characteristics of early Christian architecture, Santa Sabina has completely smooth walls built with bricks, without buttresses, since the roof is made of wood and, therefore, not very heavy. The only thing that stands out on the outside is the row of windows with semicircular arches.[72]​.

Cathedral groups - Baptisteries

The cathedrals of the bishops form groups of several important cultural buildings, to which are added secular buildings with a palace reserved for the bishop and the bishop's residence as its core. The remains of the palaces of Lateran, of Salona (in Dalmatia), of Side (in Pamphylia), of Gerasa and of Bosra (in Palestine "Palestine (region)"), of Djemila (in North Africa), allow us to know at least the plants.

In Ruan, in the basilica of Victricius at the end of the century, a first sanctuary was added on the site of the current cathedral. In Lyon, the episcopal group of the Early Middle Ages consisted of a baptistery and two churches, one of which is located under the cathedral of Saint-Jean. In Nantes, Grenoble, Reims and Narbonne, the discovery of baptisteries suggests the presence of a sanctuary in the same area.

In 'Trier', the episcopal group has two parallel basilicas with an atrium, the baptistery being 18 m on a side between the two buildings for a length of the entire group of 160 m by 100 m wide.

In Algeria, Tunisia and Tripolitania, there were already a large number of bishops in the century due to a very active municipal life. 300 Christian basilicas are excavated and identified, but only four groups of cathedrals are certain: Tipasa, Djémila, Sbeitla et Sabratha and thirty more are possible.

In Geneva, at the end of the century - beginning of the century, after the Germanic migrations, Geneva changed its status and the new port made it possible to route blocks of materials taken from the old abandoned buildings of Nyons, which were used to build an enclosure on the hill that was leveled into several terraces to construct important buildings.

To the north was the residence of a powerful inhabitant of the city with an apartment, rooms and probably a place of worship reserved for the first Christians. The destruction was later authorized in part to build a church.

This first sanctuary from the middle or third quarter of the century has an irregular plan since it was established in existing buildings. The entrance is accessed through a portico that leads to the annexes attached to the choir. To the south, a rectangular piece has a particularly careful mortar and tile floor. Then, to the east of this building, a surmounted apse is added. The traces may evoke the presence of a baptistery.

This first church will define a new urban organization of Geneva.

At the beginning of the century, the episcopal group was formed whose baptistery seemed to mark the center. This group includes two cathedrals on either side of an atrium, the bishop's residence with its chapel and meeting rooms. The complex is completed with the homes of the ecclesiastics. The North church is intended for services and the meeting of the faithful and the South for readings and the teaching of the catechumens.

La función de estos edificios exentos y cercanos a un templo, por lo general de planta circular, aunque los había también octogonales, correspondía a la administración del bautismo por inmersión, por lo que en su centro siempre se situaba una gran pila bautismal, pues en aquella época este sacramento se celebraba en personas adultas y por inmersión completa. Su cubierta solía ser una cúpula y estaban ornamentados con mosaicos y pinturas.[80]​.

Baptistery of Saint John Lateran

Pope Sixtus III (434-440) was the promoter of the construction of works on previous buildings, as is the case with this Lateran baptistery built on an ancient circular structure from the time of Constantine around the year 312, next to the archbasilica of San Juan de Lateran. It constitutes one of the best examples of a centralized plan built in the century, becoming a model for other baptisteries.[81]​ The building rebuilt by Pope Sixtus III has a centralized plan with an octagonal shape. This center is surrounded by an ambulatory with eight porphyry columns—from other demolished buildings—, on which the clerestory is located. Still in the double apses of the vestibule, you can see remains of a mosaic with decoration of intertwined branches. Pope Hilary (p. 461-468) built the chapels dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist.[82]​.

Neonian and Arian Baptisteries

Both baptisteries are located in the city of Ravenna, capital of the Roman Empire in the century, and have been inscribed by UNESCO on the 1996 World Heritage list among the early Christian monuments of Ravenna.[83]​ Of all these buildings, the two baptisteries are believed to be the oldest in construction.[84]​.

The Neonian Baptistery according to the ICOMOS evaluation: "It is the best and most complete surviving example of a baptistery from the early days of Christianity" that "retains the fluidity in the representation of the human figure derived from Greco-Roman art." The same body in the evaluation for the Arian Baptistery says: "The iconography of the mosaics, whose quality is excellent, is important because it illustrates the Holy Trinity, a somewhat unexpected element in the art of an Arian building, given that the Trinity was not accepted by this doctrine."[85]

• - Neonian Baptistery.

• - Arian Baptistery.

• - Dome of the Neonianno Baptistery.

• - Dome of the Arian Baptistery.

One of the baptisteries, the so-called Neonian, was intended for the Orthodox and the other for the Arians, the latter having it built by King Theodoric the Great at the end of the century. In the year 565 after the condemnation of the Arian cult, this structure was converted into a Catholic oratory "Oratory (religion)") with the name of Saint Mary. The Neonian or Orthodox Baptistery was built by Bishop Neone. Both have the octagonal plan, the most used in almost all the baptisteries of early Christian art, due to its symbology of the seven days of the week plus the day of the resurrection, thus relating the number eight with God and the Resurrection, with the baptismal font being found in the center of the plan. They were built on the outside with bricks with almost no ornamentation and on the inside their walls are covered with rich mosaics and also in the dome where in both buildings the scene of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by Saint John the Baptist is represented in both buildings.[86]​.

The baptistery is at the heart of the episcopal device, the fundamental element, the place of passage between the profane and the sacred, belonging to the Christian community. You can understand the rites of passage of the Christian catechumen in the patriarchal basilica of Aquileia") of the 19th century.[87]​ The future Christian passes in the South room covered with mosaics, of which a cross section in the background shows the story of Jonah "Jonah (prophet)") swallowed by the whale, spit out and then sleeping. It symbolizes baptism, before, during and after becoming another man. After this step of reflection and immersion in the baptistery, the new Christian was welcomed by the Christian community and could attend the Eucharist in the North room.

In the later Salone cathedral group), catechumens entered from the outside through a narthex in a reception room, then passed to a second room with benches located in the bishop's passage, then to another small room with benches and finally entered the font. The new Christians made a station in front of a niche in the baptistery and entered the basilica to continue the celebration of the Eucharist.

• - Jonah "Jonah (prophet)" spit out by the whale and then sleeping, Aquilea").

• - Kelibia Baptistery Pond").

In Ravenna two baptisteries of the same type were erected, that of the cathedral known as the Baptistery of the Orthodox and that of the Arians.

The Orthodox Baptistery built in the first quarter of the century forms a square with rounded corners and the four niches that occupy these corners are poorly developed in elevation. They let the octagon release and rise to a considerable height. The connection of the walls and the dome is particularly intelligent to give an effect of continuity to the whole. The straight walls seem to have been reinforced to the base of this dome that dates back to the origin of the octagon.

The Baptistery of the Arians, built around the year 500, is of similar construction but without the elevation of the walls because the architects were obliged to take up the weight and horizontal efforts of the dome to move it over the continuous walls. The particular development of one of the apses shows the growing influence of the liturgy on architecture since in the origin of this type of plan, no reason affects the regularity of the layout of the geometric figures of the central plan.[60]​.

In France, the baptistries of the Rhône Valley belong to the same group as those of northern Italy. They constitute the same family and the dissemination of this type reveals the unity of the tradition that governs early Christian art throughout the Mediterranean.

In Marseille, near the Episcopal church today the Major), the octagonal baptistery from the end of the century has considerable dimensions exceeding those of the Lateran baptistery. The Mariana baptistery in Corsica is of the same type.

The baptisteries of Aix-en-Provence and Fréjus date from the beginning of the century and that of Riez is later. Fréjus"), of almost unique conservation, contributes to the knowledge of early Christian architecture in Gaul. It is square on the outside, octagonal on the inside with alternately flat and rounded exedras. A dome rests on the eight corners of the walls.[88]​.

The configuration of the Merovingian baptistery of Poitiers is found where excavations have shown the characteristic foundations of the century and of the century in the Cimiez baptistery in Nice installed in any room of a previous Gallo-Roman monument. It is an ordinary rectangular thermal bath room with, in the center, a vaulted ciborium "Ciborio (architecture)") crowning a hexagonal vat.[89]​.

At Portbail in Normandy, the discovery of a baptistery dated to the 17th century is important for the study of the development of Christianity to the English Channel. The octagonal font is located in a polygon whose northwest and southwest corners are occupied by apsidioles. The main opening between the two apsidioles opens into a vestibule and a small door opens in the southeast wall.[90]​.

The Baptistery of Nevers is a late-century example.[91]​.

In Africa, baptisteries are small independent vaulted buildings attached to a basilica.

In Tunisia, in Tabarka, it is octagonal and in Henchir Rhiria square. In Djemila, the building has preserved its vaults. The baptismal font surmounted by a ciborium "Ciborium (architecture)") is located in a circular room. It is surrounded by an annular gallery with a barrel vault and is adorned with 36 niches that serve as seats and changing rooms.[60] There are also rosette or polylobed baptisteries as in Acholla.[92]​.

Los mausoleos son edificios funerarios con carácter monumental que solían edificarse sobre el lugar donde estaba enterrado un personaje histórico, héroe o gobernante y que asociado a la figura de un mártir tomaba el nombre de martyrium. Se acudía allí a venerar bien su cuerpo o sus reliquias. En ocasiones actuaba de cenotafio y el cuerpo se encontraba sepultado en otro lugar. Uno de los martyrium más antiguos de los que se tiene constancia es el de San Pedro, datado hacia el año 200. Se encuentra bajo la basílica de San Pedro de la Ciudad del Vaticano.[93]​ Estos edificios inspirados en los antiguos originales heroa clásicos y el espacio hipetro del templo egipcio, fueron adaptados a las necesidades del culto funerario para la veneración cristiana.[94]​ Con la legalización del cristianismo, debido a la herencia clásica de los mausoleos romanos, empiezan a proliferar estos enterramientos ya en un contexto cristiano.

Martyria and centered plant

The martyria and memoria are buildings linked to the cult of saints and the memory of the powerful. Christian emperors considered it their duty to erect shrines and funerary monuments just as their pagan predecessors had done with temples and mausoleums. They created a specific architecture, mainly with a centralized plan and covered with vaults and domes.

The buildings and ornamentation around the tombs and relics of saints had an important influence on religious art in both East and West. To honor their martyrs, Christians were inspired by the architecture and decoration of pagan heroes, in a period of transition from art to Christianity.

There are two kinds of martyria, those that actually contain the relics of the martyr and those that are raised in a place sanctified by the presence of divinity as places of decisive events in the life of Christ or the Apostles.

The relic puts the faithful in contact with the heavenly world. In early martirya, the relics were beneath a simple slab pierced with holes for libations. With the legalization of Christianity by Constantine in the Edict of Milan, buildings with different floor plans were erected throughout Christendom. Due to the objects that pilgrims obtained as a sign of pilgrimage in these places, there was a great dissemination of ideas, models and iconography around all of Christendom, promoting a great dissemination of certain images, which were subsequently adapted and resignified.[95]​.

The oldest martyria preserve the primitive plans, a square room surrounded by walls in Kaoussié near Antioch, open to the outside with arcades in Nisibe, under a ciborium "Cyborium (architecture)") in Saint John of Ephesus, under a building covered with a vault in Bagawat and Baduit.

In the centuries and there are elongated rectangular rooms, with underground cellars and floors reserved for worship with access by an external staircase like that of Marusinac in the Salone").

From 350, when the cult of the cross became widespread, the cross plan was very common in all its variants with symbolic intention. The rectangular hall of Kaoussié is elongated with four rooms that form a cross. The most magnificent plan is that of the Basilica of Saint Simon Stylites in Kalaat-Seman.

The first, commanded by Constantine and his family, are examples of this plant typology. Some are the martyrium of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the rotunda of the church of Saint Constance in Rome, where the round hall is covered with a dome supported by a barrel-vaulted ambulatory or the mausoleum of Saint Helena. This octagonal building is covered with a dome of the same type as Santa Constance that rests on eight columns. In Spain, near Tarragona, a rotunda possibly of the same imperial origin has a hexagonal dome on the inside and a square plan on the outside.[60] This type of rotunda derives from Roman funerary rotundas. The Theodosian dynasty adopted this custom and built two circular mausoleums near St. Peter's in Rome for members of the imperial family.

From the martyria to the central floor churches.

The transmission of the architectural forms of the martyria to the churches is linked to the celebration of the liturgy in front of or on the body of the martyr. This centralized plant also has a symbolic meaning. This being the starting point, it is adopted differently in the East and the West. In the East, the martyria are attached to the churches, generally at the level of the heads as an autonomous architecture. The churches are built in the form of a martyria around a preceding martyrium as in Saint John of Ephesus or included in a cruciform church as in Hosios David of Thessaloniki that Justinian covers with five domes, or of hexagonal plans in Saints Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople and in Basilica of San Vital "Basilica of San Vital (Ravenna)") in Ravenna[97].

In Rome, the church of Santo Stefano Rotondo, ordered to be built by Pope Simplicio "Simplicio (pope)") (468-483 AD) adopts a circular plan and includes a double nave forming a sort of Greek cross within the circumference of the building.

In Ravenna, two buildings: the cruciform mausoleum of Gala Placidia, continuing the Roman family burials and the basilica of San Vital "Basilica di San Vital (Ravenna)"), begun in 532, being the last sanctuary in Ravenna with a centralized plan. In the center of the building it consists of an octagonal drum on which a dome rests, filled with empty vases in the Roman manner to lighten the weight. Ravenese architects are influenced by both the classical heritage and the new Byzantine typologies.

In Thessaloniki, the sanctuaries adopted the central plan and the vaulting, although the largest example in the city, the church of Saint George is only an adaptation to the Christian cult of the mausoleum of the pagan emperor Galerius and has become an isolated work in Christian architecture. The oratory of Hosios David reflects the eastern influence and already announces the most common Byzantine churches in the Middle Ages, due to its square plan, with an inscribed cross, and those barrel vaults systematically distributed around a more slender central vault, also reminiscent of some Ravenese buildings such as the masuosleum of Gala Palcidia.[60]​.

Mausoleum of Saint Constance

It was erected as a mausoleum around 350 by Constantine to house the remains of his daughter Constance. It has a circular structure topped by a 22.50 m dome where a drum rises in which windows open to provide natural light to the building. The center of the floor housed the red porphyry sarcophagus from Constance, currently transferred to the Vatican Museums.[98] The central part is surrounded by an ambulatory formed by double columns and a second circle delimited by a thick wall that includes numerous niches, as well as smaller windows than those of the central dome. These circles are covered by a barrel vault decorated with mosaics representing vintage scenes, plant and animal motifs, and putti.[99]​.

Mausoleum of Constantine or Church of the Holy Apostles

To serve as his own mausoleum, Emperor Constantine had the ancient Church of the Holy Apostles built at the highest point next to the walls of Constantinople. This mausoleum was replaced by a new church in the time of Justinian I and later by a mosque in 1469, so nothing remains of the original mausoleum. The description is found in the work De Vita Constantini, τέσσαρες), a panegyric by Eusebius of Caesarea. It had a Greek cross plan, the arm that corresponded to the entrance was slightly longer than the other three, in the central part the emperor's porphyry sarcophagus must have been installed, flanked by cenotaphs or tombstones with the names of the apostles, Constantine occupying thirteenth place. It was made with the idea of ​​becoming a heroon where the emperor rested as a hero under the sign of the cross. Later this position was changed, when true relics of the apostles were brought to the church in 356, and Constantine's remains were moved to a separate mausoleum near the church. This new accommodation already corresponded to the traditional funerary approach, offering a circular floor plan covered with a dome.[100]​.

In the diagram that the historian Crippa shows us of the original mausoleum, she indicates the presence of a dome in each of the arms of the cross. Thus it consists of four domes surrounding the dome with a height slightly smaller than its height, something already in Byzantine tradition. In addition, Crippa also proposes a floor plan with a ring or peripheral corridor that surrounds the entire internal space as an ambulatory.[101]​.

Mausoleum of Gala Placidia

Built around the year 425 in Ravenna, it has been a World Heritage Site since 1996. It is built annex to the narthex of the Church of the Holy Cross. It is dedicated to San Lorenzo and houses three sarcophagi, which although they were believed to belong to the imperial family of Gala Placidia, historiography has opened this to debate, since they are in all probability after the construction of the building, although it remains eternally linked to the name of the empress.[102]​.

It has a cross plan with the entrance arm somewhat longer and in the transept there is a dome. It stands out for its impressive interior mosaics, very well preserved, which show different biblical scenes and iconographic themes of early Christianity.[103]​.

• - Mausoleum of Saint Constance, Rome.

• - Mausoleum of Gala Placidia, Ravenna.

• - Istanbul, Saints Sergius and Bacchus, Istanbul.

• - Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna.

• - Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna.

Monasticism

The origins of Christian monasticism, whose vestiges date back to the first centuries of the religion, carried the medieval phenomenon in germ and were also a test bed for a new architectural typology. It was an escape from the world and the foundation of a Christian experience that would not really emerge in the Roman Empire until the next century and allowed the glory of the martyrs to be prolonged by that of the saints. Antonio and Pacoma") were the first two figures to incarnate the forms of anchorite and cenobite.

In the 19th century, the communities experienced a growing expansion and the groups established themselves in the cities, in rustic houses in the countryside where they organized a system of collecting isolated cells. The first cloisters where buildings were distributed without any specific order appeared in Syria and Asia Minor. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Church sought to subdue and organize that community life.

Egypt aroused an intense fascination for its members scattered in the desert, first completely isolated anchorites, then organized in colonies and finally reunited in monasteries by the work of Pacoma. Small communities were organized in Palestine and in the urban areas of the West around a bishop such as Eusebius in Vercelli, Vitricius in Rouen, Martin in Tours, Ambrose in Milan, Paulin in Nole and Augustine in Hippo. Their life together was marked by the liturgy and they were organized by a hierarchy in a building that took the name monasterium. In the West, religious people maintained a close bond with the bishop and the liturgy of their basilicas, one of the consequences of which was the founding of the orders of regular canons.[8]​.

In Egypt, the cradle of monasticism, some people went to the desert or gathered around hermits and then passed from hermitism to the community of life of cenobites.

At the beginning of the century, a Byzantine count founded the White and Red convents (Deir el-Abiad and Deir Al-Ahmar) near Sohag. Although the convent buildings have disappeared, the churches of a similar floor plan remain surrounded by a perimeter wall that completely masks the interior in the manner of Egyptian temples. The facades are marked by two rows of false rectangular windows in the White Convent and round ones in the Red Convent, which owes its name to the brick used instead of the limestone recovered from the old temples of the White Convent.

In the Blanco convent, the triconque at the head of the church is presented as an autonomous, solid aedicule that opens onto the nave for a section. The nave is a very long room, bordered on three sides by colonnades. This colonnade, which may evoke the synagogues of Palestine "Palestine (region)"), seems rather to come from pharaonic temples, like the installation of a transverse massif in place of the narthex, which recalls the pylons.

The altarpiece of the presbytery and the interior decoration of the walls and the vestibule are of Hellenistic inspiration with polychrome marble coverings, small columns and tabernacles. If the effect produced by this massive headboard is Egyptian, inside, its floor plan and decoration link it to the tradition of Gallo-Roman funerary triconcas. There you can see the inspiration of a martyrium or a memorial, of someone who houses the tomb of the founder, the great Coptic monk Shenute.

Clay architecture

Often in the desert, where stones and wood are lacking, buildings are made of baked clay bricks.

Near Aswan in Egypt, the monastery of Saint Simeon is made of raw earth, only the pillars are made of stone and everything indicates that it was completely vaulted. In the existing apses and apses the bricks can be seen forming very light vaults. In plan, this basilica has a counter-apse whose function is poorly defined.

Between Luxor and Cairo, in the oasis of Al-Kharga") and in a funerary context, the necropolis of El-Bagawat has remained intact. The basilica built with baked clay bricks was obviously vaulted and there are still many vaulted monuments, some with an atrium. The funerary shafts show the conservation of ancient Egyptian practices.[19]​[109]​.

• - Aswan, monastery of Saint Simeon.

• - Aswan, monastery of Saint Simeon.

• - Oasis of Al-Kharga"), necropolis of El-Bagawat, nave of the basilica.

• - El-Bagawat, funerary monument.

• - Al-Kharga Oasis), El-Bagawat necropolis, façade of the basilica.

See also

• - Pre-Romanesque art.

• - Early Christian art.

• - Early Christianity.

• - Paleochristian archeology").

• - Church with a basilica plan.

• - Church with a central plan.

• - Portal:Christian architecture"). Content related to Christianity.

• - In Spanish:.

• - Other languages:

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• Hernández, G. F. (2010). The construction of the Theodosian basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. Carthaginensia: Journal of Studies and Research, 26(49), 169-172.

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• Iturgaiz, D. (1967). Early Christian Baptisteries of Hispania. Analecta sacra tarraconensia, 40(2), 209-295.

• Karivieri, A. (2006). The Ilissos Basilica and the introduction of Christian iconography in Athens.

• Masi, S. (2000). Rome and the Vatican: art and history. Editrice Bonechi House.

• Mirabella Roberti, M. (1972). Paleochristian architecture in Istria. Antichità Altoadriatiche.

• Pedone, S. (2018). A unique bottega of Byzantine pencils dedicated to Hierapolis Ephesus and Sardinia. Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia, 30(16 NS), 217-236.

• - This work contains a translation derived from «Paleochristian Architecture» from Wikipedia in Catalan, specifically this version, published by its editors under the GNU Free Documentation License and the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.