 Early

Christian meeting places were

actually set-up in preexisting apartments
or homes
 These locations were known as titilus
 Most were rebuilt into full scale churches

 Bestknown early Christian architecture

are the burial places, known as
catacombs
 Early Christians were quite poor
 Burial was provided in individual “shelf” tombs
or private family chambers
 Usually located beneath churches
 During the persecution, the Christians could not
develop architecture.
 All the meetings were kept secret and held in
private houses and sometimes in catacombs.
 Only in 4 century, when they were free to worship
in public, they begin developing buildings suited
to their needs.
 The Christian house of worship is called ‘Church’.
 The basilicas, the judicial and commercial halls
were the most suitable models for congregational
worship.
 Open air cemeteries were also in existence
 Actually preferred over the dreary catacombs
 Vatican Hill
 Modest monument of the late second century
 Said to have marked the grave of Saint Peter
 Now occupied by the church of Saint Peter
 The early Christian basilicas were usually called as
churches.

 The long rectangular form as the roman prototype.

 With only one apse on the eastern side.

 Entrance porch was from the Western side

 Which was preceded by the atrium, a gathering place, with

a closed court surrounded by roofed arcades along the
walls and usually with a fountain in the centre.

 Quiet atmosphere was conducive to meditation and

separates basilicas from noisy street.

 A roofed vestibule(narthex) provides entrance to basilica

through three or five doors.
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
proceeding 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.
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
 (Old) St. Peters Church
 Considered the most important basilican church built by
Constantine
 Building began around 333 A.D.
 Located on the slope of the Vatican Hill in Rome
 Covers a cemetery and features a shrine to Saint Peter, whom
is presumably buried there.
 A flight of 35 steps leads upto propylum and the atrium court
measuring 64 ½ by 71 1/3 meters.
 Surrounded by colonnades and a fountain at the centre of the
open spaces.
 Divided into a central nave and a four side aisles, two on each
side. which were each divided by 21 marble columns, which
were all spoils from earlier pagan buildings.
 The column supported horizontal architraves and above them
light came from the clerestory windows.
 The arch at the end was decorated with mosaics showing
Constantine presented by Saint Peters to the Saviour.
 The semicircular apse was adorned by another mosaics,
showing Jesus with St. Peters and Paul.
 In the centre of the apse was the cathedra, surrounded by
seats for the clergy.
 Between the apse and nave was a long transversal aisle.
 The Altar stood in the centre or the focal point of the
whole building.
 On one side of the building were two baptisteries.
 St Peter was the most
important of the basilica
churches built by Constantine
 The church has a triple
entrance gate leading to an
atrium
 The church like S. Giovanni
discussed earlier is a four isles
church
 The Basilica had a wooden
roof of interlocking rafters
 The nave did not lead directly
to the apse but instead ends in
a transverse space that is as
high as the nave
 The nave terminated in a
triumphal arch that framed
the curve of the apse
 Some of the early churches
were built over the tomb of
martyrs and are known as
martyrium
 St Peters is one of the
earliest and most important
of the matyrium churches
 Basilica's of St. John Lateran
 Constantine donated this structure to be seat of the
Bishop of Rome (The Pope)

 Built around 313 A.D., prior to the official

establishment of Christianity in Rome
 The first important Christian structure in Rome
 Has been rebuilt, leaving only its foundations and
historical evidence as to its original form
Through these various vicissitudes the basilica retained its ancient
form:

Plan:
•Divided by rows of columns into aisles, and having in front a peristyle
surrounded by colonnades with a fountain in the middle, the
conventional Late Antique format that was also followed by the old St
Peter's.
•The façade had three windows, and was embellished with a mosaic
representing Christ, the Saviour of the World.
•The porticoes were frescoed, probably not earlier than the 12th
century, commemorating the Roman fleet under Vespasian, the taking
of Jerusalem, the Baptism of the Emperor Constantine and his
"Donation" of the Papal States to the Church.
• Inside the basilica the columns no doubt ran, as in all other basilicas
of the same date, the whole length of the church from east to west, but
at one of the rebuilding’s, probably that which was carried out by
Clement V, the feature of a transverse nave was introduced, imitated
no doubt from the one which had been added, long before this, at
Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.
•The interiors gives an impression of austerity and grandeur.