Early Christian Flashcards
Christianity had its birth in
Judea, Eastern province of
the Roman Empire, that move to Rome.
Early Christian Architecture was influenced by
the existing Roman Art.
The ruins of the Roman buildings provided a quarry where materials were obtained. This influenced the style for?
- -construction: decoration, for columns, and other architectural features,
- -Fine sculptures and mosaic from older buildings which were turned into basilican churches.
The fiercer the sun and hotter climate necessitated
small windows and other Eastern features.
spread out rapidly
Christianity
issued their celebrated edict
of Milan, giving Christianity equal rights with other religion.
-Constantine and Licinius
was the prime character but was not
proclaimed Emperor
-Constantine
-He removed his empire from Rome to Byzantium and
developed a new style of Architecture
-Constantine
-He declared Christianity to be the official religion
Constantine
The final phase of Roman Architecture from the 4th
to 6th century primarily in church buildings.
313AD - 800AD
Christianity required impressive settings and
ceremonies to reflect its new importance, that’s why it adapted such architectural supplies from Roman architecture as?
- Basilica,
- The atrium of the house,
- Baths,
- Tombs and mausoleums,
- Paintings and mosaics.
Early Christian structures are made of?
stone and brick with increasingly less use of concrete.
Interior walls are lavishly decorated with?
mosaics that depict
-religious scenes
-iconography and images of the Roman emperor
Early Christian buildings follow
basilica or centralized plan
allows for big interior spaces that could accommodate worshipers and rituals. To house the relics of saints and for more space they add transept, creating a cross plan, which is practical and symbolic of faith.
Adaptation of basilica with its nave, aisles, and apse
main symbol
cross
Symbols and Motifs
main symbol is cross, others
are fish, dove, and lamb.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
- Simplicity in Design
- Coarseness in Execution
Unlike Greeks and Romans temples which sheltered the gods, the purpose of the Christian church was to
shelter worshippers.
a rectangular hall, its interior divided
longitudinally into a central nave, flanked by two or four aisles.
The basilica
At one end of the hall of the Basilica, almost always the east, was a
projecting hemispherical apse
in Roman basilicas this housed
a tribunal
in Christian churches it held
the sanctuary
open rectangular forecourt,
surrounded by arcades which
formed as the approach to the
church with a fountain at the
center, containing water used
for ablution (a form of
cleansing
Atrium
(a form of cleansing).
ablution
A basin for a ritual cleansing with water in the atrium of an early Christian Basilica.
Cantharus
The covered walk of an atrium or cloister
Ambulatory
Covered area between the
atrium and the church which
was assigned to the penitents.
2.Narthex
usually lighted by a clear-storey of small windows, with an aisle on either side usually half the width of the nave.
Nave & the Aisle
A portion of an interior rising above adjacent rooftop and having windows admitting daylight to the interior.
Clerestory
added to their mystique, providing an
ethereal, opaque light, either through stone plaques perforated with decorative holes, or through colored glass or alabaster. At night the marble and glass, silver and gold that filled the church would glint in the
flickering light of candles.
The windows
Constructed from spoils, the nave features a variety of capitals.
Capital and Dosseret
This double-zone protomai capital comprises?
-acanthus leaves surmounted by half-figures of eagles.
-Above, a Dosseret or impost block forms the transition from the circular capital to the square arcade base.
marble stones cut to form geometric patterns. Other floor coverings included flagstones and marble pavements.
Opus Sectile
The walls and floors of many churches feature an ornate surface decoration of
Opus Sectile
Preceded by the arch of triumph with a high altar in the center standing free under its baldachino upheld by marble columns.
Sanctuary
A traverse open space separating the nave and the apse of an early Christian Church, developing into the transept of later cruciform churches.
Bema
The major traverse part of a cruciform church,
crossing the main axis at a right angle between the nave and the choir.
Transept
A semicircular or polygonal projection of a building is usually vaulted and used especially at the sanctuary or east end of the church. Also called apsis.
Apse
The bishop’s throne, occupying a recess or apse in an early Christian church.
Tribune
A low screen in an early Christian Basilica separating the clergy and sometimes the choir from the congregation
Cancelli
An ornamental canopy of stone or marble
permanently placed over the altar in a church. Also,
baldachin, baldaquin.
Baldachino
The table in a Christian Church upon which the
Eucharist, the sacrament celebrating Christ’s Last Supper, is celebrated. Also called communion table.
Altar
Either of two raised stands from which the Gospel or Epistles were read or chanted in an early Christian church. Also called Ambon.
Ambo
Place in front of the high altar and was enclosed by
a low screen wall known as “cancelli” (hence chancel)
and was provided with a pulpit or “ambo” on either
side use for reading the epistle and gospel.
Choir
Terminal of the church, where
“sanctuary” is located, and the bishop
took the central space.
Apse
*Modeled from Roman Halls of Justice.
*Evolved from Roman dwelling house.
*Erected over the burial place of a saint to whom the
church was dedicated.
BASILICAN CHURCHES
built by Constantine, had an
uninterrupted ‘continuous
transept, which housed the
relics of the apostle.
St. Peter’s Basilica,
Rome (319-322)
The roofs of basilicas were usually of
-open timber or were coffered.
-Occasionally, more often in the Near East, they were vaulted.
Walls were usually of
brick or alternating brick and
stone-faced concrete.
Largest and most impressive among all basilican churches
ST. PAOLO FUORI LE MURA, ROME
Built by Sixtus Ill, dedicated to Constantine, oldest among the Italian Baptisteries.
BAPTISTY OF CONSTANTINE. ROME
Earliest building of cruciform plan
Tomb of Galla Placidia, Ravenna
