<<Basilica of St. Peter cs.utah.edu
After the gradual dissipation of the idea of Rome as it were, the gradual rise in Christianity allowed for a new venue for architecture. Christianity grew out of worship for the ideas shared by a rabbi known today as Jesus, who is essentially the founder of Christianity. Worship of Christianity in Rome was restricted thus a building form of the Christian church never arose until the religion was made legal by Emperor Constantine 1(by the Edict of Milan) in 313 C.E. (or A.D. for anno domini, the year of the lord).
Thus began the search for a building type suiting the newly instated religion. The previous design which fitted this religions purpose perfectly had a raised speaker’s podium, large amounts of room for a large assembly of people as well as an even amount of reverberations for the large crowd to hear. The Basilica filled the position.
<<Old Basilica of St. Peter mtsd.k12.nj.us 1
The supreme example is the Basilica of St. Peter’s. Built over the supposed site where St. Peter was martyred and buried, in 319 C.E., this basilica was constructed due to Emperor Constantine. It also laid the ground work for churches to come with a slight cross-like architecture with the long assembly hall opening to a courtyard and ending at the altar where the Priest or Bishop performed mass.
The most interesting part about this building type is that it was a chance for a completely new building type to emerge with tremendous need fostered by the popularity of a new religion. The idea that this building did not have much of a gradual build up such, as did those in ancient Greece, is very intriguing. The basic idea for the church was found immediately with the cross shape, focal altar, and large assembly being the backbone. Although developments have since flourished into many types I feel that the basics were fulfilled early on in an interesting fashion.
you indicate that the basics of the church form came into being quite quickly in your last paragraph in this post. nothing could be further from the truth. solid writing in the first part of the entry. title? concept? annotations?
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