Early Christian Architecture

Tattie Ignacio

The Spread of Christianity

Paul spread Christianity to the Greek and Roman cities of the ancient Mediterranean world

The Roman Empire then had a polytheistic religion

Christianity was considered to be illegal and Christians would be prosecuted this resulted them to worship in secret.

Christians first worshipped along side Jews in synagogues and private houses

But due to the latter separation between the Jews and Christians, they continued worshipping in private houses of the wealthier Christians about 70CE

Dura-Europosa border town on the banks of the Euphrates in what is today Syria. Here, during the town's second and third century Roman period, altars to pagan

gods, Jewish synagogues, and perhaps the earliest Christian church all coexisted.

One guy changed it all

Emperor Constantine

Quick Background

Emperor Constantine, also known as Constantine the Great, was the Emperor of the Roman Empire from 306-337 AD

Son of Flavius Valerius Constantus, a roman army officer who then became the deputy emperor in the west.

Rose and became military tribune under the emperor Diocletian and Galerius

Became senior western emperor Then acclaimed emperor by the city

Eboracum after his fathers death Becomes ruler of the west and east/ emperor

after defeating the emperors Maxenteius and Licinius

In the 4th century , Emperor Constantine defeated, rival, Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. Accounts of the battle describe how Constantine saw a sign in the heavens portending his victory. Eusebius, Constantine's principal biographer, describes the sign as the Chi Rho, the first two letters in the Greek spelling of the name Christos.

After that victory Constantine became the principal patron of Christianity.

In 313 he issued the Edict of Milan which granted religious toleration

Christians were now free to worship publicly and create worship spaces

Basilica

Made first for public events: law courts, army drill halls etc. (Civic Basilicas)

All basilicas had a semicircular wall at the end which is called an apse

Basilica Ulpia

Found in Trajan, Rome

Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine

-Largest Building in the Roman forum

Some Basilicas were then converted for the use of the Christian Church

Palace Basilica of Constantine

Design as an Imperial hall then converted Became the official seat of the bishop of

Rome then

Attention was also directed in the fourth century church to the veneration of spots associated with Christian martyrs

This type of building is called a martyrium

Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

The Rotunda of the Anastasis

Old St. Peter’s Basilica

It is believed to have built on the site of the burial of St. Peter, the principal disciple of Christ and the first Bishop of Rome

The tomb of St. Peter was said to be in the apse of the church

Created the concept of a cross shape. The axes allowed for the concentration of attention to be on the tomb of Peter

Basillica of San Clemente, Rome

One Example of Basillicas that were built on top of the houses where early Christians worshipped

the 10 parts of a Basilica

1) Propylaeum

the entrance building of a sacred precinct, whether church or imperial palace.

2) Atrium

in early Christian, Byzantine, and medieval architecture, the forecourt of a church; as a rule enveloped by four colonnaded porticoes.

3) Narthex

the entrance hall or porch proceding the nave of a church.

4) Nave

the great central space in a church. In longitudinal churches, it extends from the entrance to the apse (or only to the crossing if the church has one) and is usually flanked by side aisles.

5) Side Aisle

one of the corridors running parallel to the nave of a church and separated from it by an arcade or colonnade.

6) Crossing

the area in a church where the transept and the nave intersect.

7) Transept in a cruciform church, the

whole arm set at right angles to the nave. Note that the transept appears infrequently in Early Christian churches. Old St. Peter's is one of the few example of a basilica with a transept from this period. The transept would not become a standard component of the Christian church until the Carolingian period

8) Apse a recess, sometimes

rectangular but usually semicircular, in the wall at the end of a Roman basilica or Christian church. The apse in the Roman basilica frequently contained an image of the Emperor and was where the magistrate dispensed laws. In the Early Christian basilica, the apses contained the "cathedra" or throne of the bishop and the altar.

9) Nave elevation

Term which refers to the division of the nave wall into various levels. In the Early Christian basilica the nave elevation usually is composed of a nave colonnade or arcade and clerestory.

10) Clerestory

a clear story, i.e. a row of windows in the upper part of a wall. In churches, the clerestory windows above the roofs of the side aisles permit direct illumination of the nave.

https://www.oneonta.edu/faculty/farberas/arth/arth212/Early_Christian_Basilica.html

http://chayacassano.commons.gc.cuny.edu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kww4142_Bjw

http://www.earlychristianhistory.info/frac.html

http://webspace.webring.com/people/pa/auldkirk/2earlychristian.html