The Rise of Constantine and Christianity

Christianity and the Roman Empire had a long history of bad blood. Several Roman emperors
made a point of persecuting Christianity, either because they were trying to preserve the religion
of their ancestors or simply because Christians provided a convenient scapegoat for the problems
of the empire. Christianity was illegal throughout the empire, and Christians were subject to
injustices ranging from seizure of property to death in the arena.

Yet, after three centuries of Roman Emperors grinding Christians under their feet, a new emperor
decided to give Christians a hand up. His name was Constantine. Early Christian architecture
exploded under the protection and patronage of this ambitious emperor. Constantine wanted to
unify the crumbling Roman Empire under Christianity. To do so, he began building churches
across the empire on a massive scale.

The Basilica
For centuries Christians had been meeting secretly in houses. With Constantine's conversion to
Christianity, there was suddenly an opportunity to build public places of worship.

Yet what should these churches look like? They could not look like Roman temples. A Roman
temple is a pretty place for an idol to sit. It holds a god, a place for ritual sacrifice and perhaps a
treasury. Christian ritual is not about burning food to an idol; it's about coming together as a
congregation. The problem is there's nowhere in a Roman temple for a congregation to
congregate. A bigger, more open space is necessary.

To meet these needs, Constantine chose the Roman basilica as the model for his churches.
Basilicas were the shopping malls of ancient Rome; they also served as council chambers,
meeting halls and law courts throughout the empire. The basilica was a large rectangular hall
with colonnades running down both sides. It had high windows to let in plenty of light. Many
were built with a wooden roof, making their construction cheap and fast. Others featured an apse
or raised semi circle at the opposite end of the entrance, framed by a triumphal arch, one of the
most distinctly Roman forms of architecture.

Constantine adapted this building to Christian services. The long, open rectangular
colonnade was the perfect place for congregations to congregate. This area became known
as the nave. That semicircular area at one end, or apse, seemed like the perfect place to put
an altar. The entrances were then moved from the sides to the front, so the whole building
has a single axis, with the apse as its focal point. Before the entrance, he added an atrium, or
open-aired columned courtyard typical of Roman palaces. Between the atrium and the nave was
the narthex, or main entrance of the church.

With these adaptations, the Constantine's basilicas provided the space the Christians needed for
their congregations and lent the Church the authority of an established form of imperial
architecture, thereby proclaiming Christianity's status as a state religion. Unfortunately, none of
Constantine's basilicas survive unaltered. The closest surviving example is the Basilica of St Paul
outside the walls in Rome.

Here we can see how these architectural elements came together to create a powerful visual and
spatial effect. Entering the church requires passing through all of the elements we just covered.
You start out in the columned atrium and then pass through the narthex. This brings you to the
nave, which runs up to the triumphal arch, with the apse behind it. The overall effect was one of
increasing grandeur as one stepped deeper and deeper into God's house.

The basilica provided Christians with a place to commune and engage in the foremost Christian
sacrament: the eucharist, in which pious Christians shared a communal meal of bread and wine,
symbolizing the body and blood of Christ. Yet there was another important Christian sacrament,
something that made a Christian a Christian, and that was baptism.

The Baptistry

While baptism would eventually become a matter of sprinkling babies, the early Church
followed the example of the Bible and baptized people of all ages by immersion. Indeed, the
very word 'baptismo' means 'I submerge.' Most Basilicas lacked an in-ground pool, thus a
different space would need to be created for this important rite of passage.

Luckily, the Romans already had the perfect public places for this service readily available: the
Roman bath. The Roman bath took several forms, but the most popular was a round or polygonal
building crowned with a dome. By the 1st century CE, this round design had already been
expanded upon by the Romans to build temples, like the Pantheon.

The form was later adapted for tombs, like the mausoleum Constantine built for his daughter.
Early Christians adapted this form to build baptistries, or places to baptize people, like this Arian
baptistry built in Ravenna circa 4-500 CE. Later, the Byzantines would expand upon this form,
building their churches around this central-planned, domed scheme.

Early Christian Architecture

Time period: 3rd-7th centuries

The term Early Christian refers to the architecture related to Christian religion.

After Christianity is recognized receiving official approval from Roman Empire. Christians begin
constructing religious structured adapted from Roman prototypes.

Historical and Social

Christianity comes into being following the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth about 33 CE. For the next
three centuries, membership increases, but Christianity has little legal standing in the Roman Empire. In
313 CE, Roman emperor Constantine wins battle that he attributes to the Christian God and gives the
tolerance for all religions. He personally sanctions Christianity and raising its status. Soon Christian
churches and other structures spring up in Rome, Constantinople and other cities. Constantine himself is
the patron for the Old Saint Peter basilica in Rome. In 330CE he moves the capital to Constantinople
(today Istanbul) and rules Roman Empire from the East. In 404 CE emperor Honorius moves the capital
to Ravenna to prevent it from being overtaken. But his effort was unsuccessful and in 476 CE Ravenna
and Rome were overtaken, making the fall of Roman Empire. With the fewer invasions the eastern
portion prospers as Byzantine Empire.

Architecture

Christianity required impressive settings and ceremonies to reflect its new importance, thats why it
adapted such architectural supplies from Roman architecture as: basilica, the atrium of the house,
baths, tombs and mausoleums, paintings and mosaics.
Roman building types such as basilicas (important public building),courtyard houses and baths are
adapted and combined to create the first Christian basilicas or churches.Used typical architectural
elements of the Roman empire, such as arches, clerestory windows, and colonnades with
entablatures.Early Christian structures are made of stone and brick with increasingly less use of
concrete.Interior walls are lavishly decorated with mosaics that depict religious scenes and iconography
and images of the Roman emperor.

Early Christian buildings follow basilica or centralized plan. Adaptation of basilica with its nave, aisles,
and apse allows for big interior spaces that could accommodate worshipers and rituals. To house the
relics of saints and for more space they add transept, creating a cross plan, which is practical and
symbolic of faith.

Symbols and Motifs: main symbol is cross, others are: fish, dove, and lamb.

Public Buildings:
Types: newly developed form are churches, baptisteries, mausoleums and memorial structures at sacred
sites.
Orientation: the apse, which houses the altar, orients to east because Christ was crucified in Jerusalem.
The entrance is opposite on the other side.
Floor Plans: Most churches follow the Roman basilica plan. They usually have a portal (main entrance)
that opens into a large colonnaded forecourt, leading to narthex (porch) that gives access to larger nave.
Longitudinal axis from forecourt entry forms a processional path. Triumphal arch frames the apse, which
has seats for clergy and a throne in a center for bishop. Screen separates apse from altar, where are
placed the remains of a martyr of saint.
Facades: walls of plain brick or stone with little articulation except doors and windows. Center of nave is
high to accommodate clerestory windows (windows are rectangular or arched). Columns, masonry and
roof tiles are pillaged from Roman buildings.
Doors: are either carved wood or bronze.
Roofs: are gabled on basilicas and doomed on central plans. Rust-colored clay tiles cover the surface.

Interiors

Christian churches have a lot of wall embellishment so they feature wall decoration on unprecedented
scale with frescoes or mosaics. Very decorated interior are contrasting with plane exteriors.
Public Buildings:

Floors: black or grey or colored marble, some have patterns.

Walls: nave arcade, triumphal arch, and apse display panels, frescoes or mosaics. Decorations illustrate
God and educate believers. Mosaics with glittery glass surface illustrate simplified figures.
Columns: reused Roman or new classicizing columns. Capitals and columns frequently do not match.
Ceilings: feature exposed timber trusses or beams.

Furniture

Early Christian furniture is limited. The most important pieces are the storage items found in churches.
Church furniture is highly decorated with carvings, gildings, and frequently, jewels. Secular furnishings
such as coffers follow earlier Roman types and forms.
Seating: stools are more common than chairs and resemble Roman prototype.
Storage: emblems belonging to the Christian faith decorative furniture as well as architecture(peacock,
grapevines, cross)

Roman buildings that influenced Early Christian architecture:

Basilica at Trier (Germany)

Baths of Caracalla (Rome)

Early Christian Buildings:

Old Saint Peter Basilica (Rome)

S. Apollinare in Classe (Ravenna, Italy)

San Pedro de la Nave (El Campilo, Spain)

Sta. Constanza (Rome)