Early Christian Architecture after the Edict of Milan (313 CE)

Prior to the Edict of Milan Christians had usually worshipped secretly in homes or house churches. After the edict (or decree) lifted the persecution of Christians in 313, the Church assumed a privileged position under the protection of the Roman emperor. Therefore, large churches were necessary to meet the demands of new congregations. And these couldn't be modest! The Roman emperor Constantine sponsored the erection of many churches in Rome, Constantinople, and the Holy Land.

However, there was no tradition for large-scale Christian building. Derived from Roman civic structures, the basilica became the most popular form. (See the plan of Old St. Peter's below.) The basilical plan is a rectangle terminating in apse. It has a long nave flanked by side aisles (either two or four). The nave is higher than the aisles and is lit by clerestory windows. The Christian version of the basilica has a flat wooden ceiling even though the Roman precedent usually had groin vaulting. Parish churches, however, differed from this large "cathedral" form. (The term cathedral is used to denote a church containing a "cathedra" or bishop's throne.)

	Old St. Peter's Rome, begun 330
	Old St. Peter's no longer exists since the new St. Peter's, completed in the seventeenth century, was built over the older structure. The original church had a long nave -- about 250 feet, almost the length of a football field! The center aisle was about 62 feet wide. Unlike other basilicas, Old St. Peter's had a transept across the back of church, dictated by the special character of church, a burial place for St. Peter. With the growing cult of martyrs and saints, pilgrimages were made to their tombs, usually below the apse. The exterior, like all Christian churches, was plain -- in contrast to classical temples which had decorated pediments, friezes, and metopes. The decoration was now inside the church with mosaics, wall paintings, colored marbles, inlaid pavements, gold candelabra and other elaborate liturgical objects. Whereas pagans worshipped outside of their temples, Christians worshipped inside in the presence of God; thus, the inside had to be decorated, not the outside. The builders of these churches attempted to create a sacred, mysterious space in contrast to the secular world outside. Even the windows were high, enclosing the worshipers in this special space and protecting them from the profane world beyond.
	Santa Maria Maggiore Rome, 432-40
	Santa Maria Maggiore, built by Pope Sixtus III to celebrate the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God, survives as an early Christian basilica. It also illustrates an interest in classical forms. A wide nave with an aisle on each side is lined with Ionic columns supporting a classical entablature. A triumphal arch (also classical), divides the nave and apse and is decorated with mosaics illustrating the childhood of Christ. Nave mosaics illustrate Old Testament subjects.