(from 1886); Papers of the British School at Rome (from 1903). Brief
reports of discoveries are published by Dr T. Ashby in the Classical
Review.
All previous archaeological maps of Rome have been superseded by Lanciani’s Formae urbis Romae, in 46 sheets (Milan, 1893–1902). The best recent maps are those in Kiepert’s Formae orbis antiqui, sheets 21 and 22. Kiepert and Huelsen’s Formae urbis Romae antiquae date from 1896; they are accompanied, by a Nomenclator Topographicus. Homo, Lexique de topographie romaine (1900), is also useful. (J. H. M.; H. S. J.)
Christian Rome
From the 4th to the 12th Century
The era of church building in Rome maybe said to begin with the reign of Constantine and the peace of the church. Before then Christian worship, was conducted with various degrees of secrecy either in private houses or in the catacombs (q.v.), according as the reigning emperor viewed the sect with tolerance or dislike. The type of church which in the beginning of the 4th century was adopted with certain modifications from the pagan basilica, though varying much in size, had little or no variety in its general form and arrangement. One fixed model was strictly adhered to for many centuries, and, in spite of numberless alterations and additions, can be traced in nearly all the ancient churches of Rome. It is fully described and illustrated in the article Basilica.
The walls of these early churches were mostly built of concrete, faced with brick, left structurally quite plain, and decorated only with painted stucco or glass mosaics—especially (internally) in the apse and on the face of its arch, and (externally) on the east or entrance wall, the top of which was often Construction. built in an overhanging curve to keep off the rain. The windows were plain, with semicircular arches, and were filled with pierced marble screens, or in some cases with slabs of translucent alabaster; the latter was the case at S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura, and examples of the former still exist in the very early church formed in the rooms of some thermae on the Esquiline (possibly those of Trajan), below the 6th-century church of S. Martino ai Monti. Almost the only bit of external architectural ornament was the eaves cornice, frequently (as at the last-named church) formed of marble cornices stolen from earlier classical buildings. Internally the nave columns, with their capitals and bases, were usually taken from some classical building, and some churches are perfect museums of fine sculptured caps and rich marble shafts of every material and design.[1] At first the nave had no arches, the columns supporting a horizontal entablature, as in old St Peter’s, S. Clemente, and S. Maria Maggiore, but afterwards, in order to widen the intercolumniation, simple round arches of narrow span were introduced, thus requiring fewer columns. The roof was of the simple tie-beam and kingpost construction, left open, but decorated with painting or metal plates. The floor was paved either with coarse mosaic of large tesserae (as at S. Pudentiana) or with slabs of marble stripped from ancient buildings. A later development of this plan added a small apse containing an altar at the end of each aisle, as in S. Maria in Cosmedin and S. Pietro in Vincoli.[2]
The type of church above described was used as a model for by far the majority of early churches not only in Rome, but also in England, France, Germany, and other Western countries. Another form was however occasionally used in Rome, which appears to have been derived from the round temple Circular churches. of pagan times. This is a circular building, usually domed and surrounded with one or more rings of pillared aisles. To this class belong the combined church and mausoleum of Costanza (see fig. 14) and that of SS. Marcellinus and Petrus, both built by Constantine, the former to hold the tomb of his daughters Constantia (or Constantina) and Helena, the latter that of his mother Helena. The latter is on the Via Labicana, about 2 m. outside Rome; it is a circular domed building, now known as the Torre Pignattara, from the pignatte or amphorae built into the concrete dome to lighten it. The mausoleum of S. Costanza, close by S. Agnese fuori, is also domed, with circular aisle, or rather ambulatory, the vault of the latter decorated with mosaic of classical style (see Mosaic, vol. xviii. p. 885). The red porphyry sarcophagi, sculptured richly with reliefs, from these mausolea are now in the Vatican. On a much larger scale is the church of S. Stefano Rotondo on the Coelian, built by Pope Simplicius (468–482), with a double ring of pillared aisles, the outer one of which was pulled down and a new enclosure wall built by Nicholas V. Other round churches are S. Teodoro (by the Vicus Tuscus), restored in the 8th century, and S. Bernardo, which is one of the domed halls of Diocletian’s thermae, consecrated as a church in 1598.
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Fig. 14.—Church and Mausoleum of Costanza; A, Recess for altar. B, Porphyry slab in floor where the tomb stood. C, Modern altar. D, D, Slabs of white marble, part of ancient paving. E, E, Recesses with mosaics. F, F, Ambulatory with mosaic vault. |
Space will not allow any individual description of the very numerous and important churches in Rome which are built on the basilica plan. The principal examples are these:—S. Pudentiana, traditionally the oldest in Rome, restored in 398; S. Clemente, restored under Siricius (384–399), now forming the crypt of an upper, church built in the 12th century; S. Sabina, 5th century; S. Vitale, 5th century, founded by Innocent I. (401–417); S. Martino ai Monti, c. 500; S. Balbina, 6th century; church of Ara Coeli, founded by Gregory the Great (590–604) as S. Maria in Capitolio; S. Giorgio in Velabro, rebuilt by Leo II. (682–683); S. Cesareo, 8th century; S. Maria in Via Lata, restored by Sergius, I. (687–701); S. Crisogono, rebuilt in 731 by Gregory III.; S. Maria in Cosmedin; S. Pietro in Vincoli, and S. Giovanni ad Portam Latinam, rebuilt c. 772 by Adrian I.; S. Maria in Dominica, rebuilt by Paschal I. (817–824), who also rebuilt S. Cecilia in Trastevere and S. Prassede; S. Marco, rebuilt by Gregory IV. in 833; S. Maria Nuova, rebuilt by Nicholas I. (858–867), now called S. Francesca Romana; the church of the SS. Quattro Coronati, rebuilt by Paschal II. about 1113; and S. Maria in Trastevere, rebuilt by Innocent II. in 1130.[3]
Though the apses and classical columns of the naves in these churches were built at the dates indicated, yet in many cases it is difficult to trace the existence of the ancient walls; the alterations and additions of many centuries have frequently almost wholly concealed the original structure. Except at S. Clemente, the early choir, placed as shown in fig. 26, has invariably been destroyed; the side walls have often been broken through by the addition of rows of chapels; and the whole church, both within and without, has been overlaid with the most incongruous architectural features in stucco or stone. The open roof is usually concealed either by a wooden panelled ceiling or by a stucco vault. The throne[4] and marble benches in the apse have usually given place to more modern wooden fittings, to suit the later position of the choir, which has always been, transferred from the nave to the apse. In many cases the mosaics of the apse and the columns of the nave are the only visible remains of the once simple and stately original church.[5]
From 1200 to 1450; and the Papal Palaces
The 10th and 11th centuries in Rome were extraordinarily barren in the production of all branches of the fine arts, even that of architecture; and it was not till; the end of the 12th that any important revival began. The 13th century was, however, one of greatEra of the Cosmati. artistic activity, when an immense number of beautiful works, especially in marble enriched with mosaic, were produced in Rome. This revival, though on different lines, was very similar to the rather later one which took place at Pisa (see Pisano), and, like that, was in great part due to the great artistic talents of one family,—the Cosmati,[6] which, for four or five generations, produced skilful architects, sculptor sand mosaicists.
- ↑ S. Lorenzo and S. Agnese fuori, S. Maria in Trastevere, Ara Coeli, and numberless other churches are very rich in this respect.
- ↑ Heinrich Holtzinger, Die altchristliche Architectur (Stuttgart, 1889–99); Dehio and von Bezold, Die kirchliche Baukunst des Abendlandes (Stuttgart, 1884–99).
- ↑ This list does not include the great basilicas of Rome, for which see Basilica. On the churches of Rome see Armellini, Le chiese di Roma (2nd ed. 1891); Tuker and Malleson, Handbook to Christian and Ecclesiastical Rome (1900); Marucchi, Basiliques at églises de Rome (1902); Frothingham, Monuments of Christian Rome (1910).
- ↑ Some of these marble thrones which still exist are very interesting relics of Hellenic art, much resembling the existing seats in the theatre of Dionysius at Athens. Examples of these thrones exist at S. Pietro in Vincoli, S. Stefano Rotondo, and in the Lateran cloister.
- ↑ The interior of S. Maria in Cosmedin has in recent years been restored according to primitive tradition.
- ↑ On the Cosmati see Boito, Architettura del Medio Evo (Milan, 1880, pp. 117–182); Clausse, Les Marbriers romaines et le mobilier presbytéral (Paris, 1897); Crowe and Cavalcaselle, History of Painting in Italy (ed. Douglas, 1903), ch. iii.
