When Rome Met Christianity

Basilica Ulpia
Trajan's Forum. Rome. c. 110-113 CE.

The Basilica Ulpia, constructed by the infamous Roman emperor Trajan, served as an important civic center and court of law.  Situated in the heart of Rome, the Basilica Ulpia and the Forum of Trajan became a thriving city locale, featuring governmental offices, magnificent libraries housing the emperor's collections of Latin and Greek manuscripts, and over 150 shops.  Despite its socio-political appeal, however, it is in truth the architecture of the Basilica Ulpia that drew such crowds near and made it so important in the context of its influence on later architectural tradition.

A basilica  was a large, rectangular building with a considerably extensive interior space for conducting governmental functions.  Typically these structures were arranged in a specific layout, adhering to an architectural trend popular in Imperial Rome.  The Basilica Ulpia, however, was a particularly grand example of this trend--a reflection of the commissioned emperor's wealth, power, and desire for recognition and legacy.

Oriented around a longitudinal axis,  the Basilica Ulpia stretched 385 feet long and 182 feet wide in its core dimension.  The large central area, known as the nave, would engulf visitors upon their entrance, reducing them to a size noticeably less significant than their majestic surroundings.   Flanking the nave on either side were double colonnaded aisles topped by open galleries or a clerestory.  The naturalness, and seemingly unfathomable height, of the lighting provided by the clerestory would cast a heavenly glow from above, bathing the resplendent columns and marble and creating an atmosphere intentionally other-wordly.

The basilica itself would later become the archetypal building structure for the later emergence of Christian architecture. Note-worthy characteristics of the structure that distinguish it from this very similar development, however, are, firstly, its openness and intimacy with the outside and/or natural world, and secondly, the continuance of the lavishness of the interior into the exterior.  These two things, reminiscent of the temples of Ancient Greece, are somewhat diminished in Christian architecture so as to emphasize a distinct transition between the outside world and that of the divine.  

Oratory of Galla Placidia
Ravenna. c. 425-426

The Oratory of Galla Placidia is one of the oldest surviving Christian structures located in Ravenna.  This small chapel was attached to the narthex of the church of the imperial palace and named for Honorius' half-sister, Galla Placidia, who was the daughter of the Western Roman Emperor, wife of a Gothic king, mother of Emperor Valentinian, and ruler of the West from 425 to about 440.  Following the belief that she and her family were buried within, the oratory was once known rather as the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia.

Constructed during the time of Emperor Constantine's shift of Rome's capital to the Eastern city of Constantinople (Byzantium), the Oratory of Galla Placidia exhibits several important architectural transitions, from traditional Roman into Early Christian.  In this structure, we see the beginning of the development of the cruciform shape--an architectural element that would become crucial to later Christian churches.  (Though the cruciform shape allowed, structurally, for the addition of a choir and other such later developments, the central appeal of this particular style of  church was perhaps that it reflected the cross upon which Christ was crucified and called to mind the importance of his sacrifice to the Christian theology.) We also see a marked contrast from the exterior of this structure and those of traditional Rome; while the lofty, serene,  and open-aired temples of the Roman forum immediately called to mind the grandest realms of the divine, this seemingly modest structure requires an entrance into its guarded interior in order to experience its majesty.

Once inside, viewers would be confronted with an elaborate, richly colorful, and intimate space.  The drastic contrast between humble exterior and beautifully jeweled inner chambers served to intensify the experience of the building, the metaphysical transition from the mundane human world into a sacred heavenly realm.  Featuring a pendentive dome in the center, the interior of the oratory is covered from head to toe in brilliant glass mosaics depicting images of Christ as the Good Shepherd, the four Evangelists, and a calming star-strewn sky allusive to an Early Medieval cosmology.  A thin layer of yellow marble covers the windows, giving a fiery glow to the space and further exaggerating the supernatural world in which one is partaking.  This particular aspect would be a sort of precursor to the use of stained glass in later Christian architecture as a source of divine light.  

One of the most important features of the Oratory of Galla Placidia, however, is the iconography present among its remarkable mosaics.  For the first time, people were using images to tell specific stories in a specific context--something that would be essential to Christianity and Christian architecture throughout its reign.  The image of Christ as the Good Shepherd over the entrance to the building, for example, shows him clothed in regal gold and purple robes, keeping loyal watch over his flock.  He is no longer the young boy in a simple tunic, but a divine emperor wreathed in a glorious halo and carrying a golden crossed staff.  This depiction of the Heavenly Father reflects Christianity's standing as the official state religion for 45, signifying the triumph of a new faith.