CHURCH ARCHITECTURE
REFERENCES
1. Ching, Francis D.K., A Visual Dictionary of Architecture
2. Fletcher, Bannister, A History of Architecture 20th Ed.
3. Mercado, Jose L., The Architectural Reviewer Volume III:
History & Theory of Architecture
4. Salvan, George S., Architectural Character & the History of
Architecture
5. Graphic History of Architecture
6. The World Atlas of Architecture
FORMATION OF THE CHURCH PLANS:
1. THE BASILICA STYLE: 2. THE CENTRALIZED PLAN VARIATION
Central – Two Axes referring to
square Plan added before the
church proper
Longitudinal –one axis referring to Basilican Type
PARTS OF BASILICAN CHURCH ALTAR TRIBUNE
APSE
BEMA
NERTHEX
AMBULATORY ATRUIM
NAVE
AISLE
CANTHARUS
BASILICAN CHURCHES
ST. PETER'S, ROME
(AD 333)
OLD ST. PETER'S, ROME (AD 333)
ST. PETER'S, ROME:
Old St. Peter's Basilica was the church buildings that stood, from the
4th to 16th centuries, where St. Peter's Basilica stands today
in Vatican City. Construction of the basilica, built over the historical site
of the Circus of Nero, began during the reign of Roman
Emperor Constantine I. The name "old St. Peter's Basilica" has been
used since the construction of the current basilica to distinguish the
two buildings
HISTORY
Construction began by orders of the Roman Emperor Constantine
I between 318 and 322, after his conversion to Christianity and took
about 40 years to complete. Over the next twelve centuries, the
church gradually gained importance, eventually becoming a major
place of pilgrimage in Rome.
LENGTH: 220 Meters
WIDTH: 150 Meters
HEIGHT: 136.6 Meters
SUMMARY:
• 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 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 a high as the nave.
ST. GIOVANNI IN LATERANO
(AD 313-320)
ST. GIOVANNI IN LATERANO (AD 313-320)
ST. GIOVANNI IN LATERANO
PLAN
INTERIOR
ST. GIOVANNI IN LATERANO
• A typical example of the early Christian church is S. Giovanni in
Laterano Rome
• It was the first church commission by Emperor Constantine
• It was built as the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome
• It was remodeled several times
• The church consists of a central nave flanked by two narrow isle
and separated from them by a monumental colonnade.
• The central nave rose above the isle roof , and the inner isle
rose above the outer.
• The nave terminated at an apse.
• The structure was of brick faced concrete covered with simple
trussed-timber roof
ST. GIOVANNI IN LATERANO
LENGTH: 140 Meters
WIDTH: 73 Meters
NAVE WIDTH: 65 Meters
BASILICA OF ST. PAUL
OUT SIDE THE WALL,
395 AD
BASILICA OF ST. PAUL outside the wall
Saint Paul is one of the four papal basilicas and the second
largest after Saint Peter’s. The Basilica is within Italian
Territory, but the Holy see owns the Basilica in a regime of
extraterritoriality, with Italy recognizing its full ownership and
conceding it “ the immunity granted by international law to
the headquarters of the diplomatic agents of foreign States.
When Paul the Apostle was executed in the first century AD
in Rome, his followers built a shrine over his grave. In 324 a
small church was consecrated on the same grounds, which
was later demolished in 386 to make space for the
construction of a larger and more beautiful basilica,
completed in 395.
BASILICA OF ST. PAUL outside the wall
The monastery’s striking cloister was built between 1220 and
1241. The cloister is one of the few parts of the Basilica
which survived the fire of 1823.
After the fire, many countries made donations for the
restoration of the church, which was reopened in 1840. The
temple was later declared a national monument.
LENGTH: 150 Meters
WIDTH: 80 Meters
NAVE WIDTH: 30 Meters
HEIGHT: 73 Meters
BASILICA OF ST. PAUL outside the wall
S. MARIA MAGGIORE, ROME
(AD 432)
S. MARIA MAGGIORE, ROME (AD 432)
• The largest Catholic Marian church in Rome, Italy
• The design of the basilica was a typical one during this
time in Rome: "a tall and wide nave; an aisle on either
side; and a semicircular apse at the end of the nave." The
key aspect that made Santa Maria Maggiore such a
significant cornerstone in church building during the early
5th century were the beautiful mosaics found on the
triumphal arch and nave.
PLAN
S. MARIA MAGGIORE
LENGTH: 92 Meters
WIDTH: 80 Meters
NAVE WIDTH: 30 Meters
HEIGHT: 75 Meters
S. MARIA MAGGIORE, ROME
S. APOLLINARE, RAVENNA
(AD 538)
S. APOLLINARE, RAVENNA (AD 538)
• This is the most magnificent of Ravenna’s basilicas. Its
construction was commissioned between 535 and 538
AD. It was consecrated on the 9th May 549 AD by
Archbishop Maximianus, who had also consecrated the
Basilica of San Vitale one year earlier
• The Basilica of St. Apollinare in Classes is known
worldwide for its mosaics, created starting from the 6th
century. The apse and the triumphal arch contain one of
the largest surface areas of mosaic from ancient times still
in existence
S. APOLLINARE, RAVENNA (AD 538)
• The basilica and its mosaics have undergone several
cycles of restoration since the middle ages. In the 15th
century, Sigismondo Malatesta stripped the church of the
marble covering the walls of the side aisles, to use it for
the construction of the Malatesta Temple of San
Francesco in Rimini. The walls at the side of the nave
were decorated with stucco and paintings in the 18th
century.
• Built over a burial ground in use until the 4th century, it was
dedicated to Sant’Apollinare, the first bishop of Ravenna, and
his remains were transferred there. When the Basilica of
Sant’Apollinare in Classe was built, 1500 years ago, it was close
to the sea
BASILICA DI SANTA SABINA
(AD 432)
BASILICA DI SANTA SABINA (AD 432)
BASILICA DI SANTA SABINA (AD 432)
• The church was built on the site of early Imperial houses,
one of which is said to be of Sabina, a Roman matron
originally from Avezzano in the Abruzzo region of Italy.
Sabina was beheaded in AD 126 under Emperor Hadrian,
because she had been converted to Christianity by her
servant Serapia, who also had been beheaded in AD 119.
Sabina and Serapia were later declared Catholic saints.
• Santa Sabina was built by Peter of Illyria,
a Dalmatian priest, between 422 and 432 near a temple of
Juno on the Aventine Hill in Rome
BASILICA DI SANTA SABINA (AD 432)
• The architecture is relatively simple with a wooden, truss
roof. The wall of the nave is broken by clerestory windows
that provide direct lighting in the nave. The wall does not
contain the traditional classical orders articulated by
columns and entablatures.
• Like the Trier Basilica, the Church of Santa Sabina has a
dominant central axis that leads from the entrance to the
apse, the site of the altar. This central space is known as
the nave, and is flanked on either side-by-side aisle
• Light would have been understood as a symbol of divinity.
Light was a symbol for Christ. The emphasis in this
architecture is on the spiritual effect and not the physical
The tall, spacious nave has 24 columns of Proconnesian marble with
perfectly matched Corinthian columns and bases, which were
spoliated (reused) from the Temple of Juno.
SUMMARY:
EARLY CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE
Character:
1. Simplicity in design and treatment
2. Coarseness in execution
Material:
savaged from pagan structures
Basilican plan for churches (east oriented)
System: Trabeated & Arcuated
