Old Saint Peter’s: The Constantinian Basilica
In AD 313, when Constantine proclaimed Christianity to be the official religion of the Roman Empire, it became clear that contemporary Christian churches were not adequate to imperial demands. Something new had to be built on a proper scale. But what form was it to take?
Preparing the Site
Whatever was constructed had to be set apart from the pagan temple. The public space of temple architecture was not suitable anyway: ceremonials took place on an altar outside the temple, while the populace watched from the surrounding open square. The temple interior was essentially dark and mysterious, reserved to the priests and their treasury.
There did exist a form of secular public space, the basilica, that might prove more amenable to Christian worship if certain changes were made. The basilica was a long, aisled, warehouse-like space, suitable for markets, public debate, the law courts, and other purposes. At one end, an apse, an elevated, semicircular niche topped with a half dome, was marked out for the presiding judge, the emperor’s representative, or the emperor himself.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Mary Elizabeth Podles is the retired curator of Renaissance and Baroque art at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the author of A Thousand Words: Reflections on Art and Christianity (St. James Press, 2023). She and her husband Leon, a Touchstone senior editor, have six children and live in Baltimore, Maryland. She is a contributing editor for Touchstone.
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
32.2—March/April 2019
Misguided Mercy & Dante's Infernal Purgation by Joshua Hren
33.1—January/February 2020
on the Consequences of One Birth Before Roe v. Wade by Craig Kellogg Galer
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
