Early Christian

With the acceptance of the new Christian religion, came the need for a new place of worship. After Christianity was legalized, believers could come out of their homes and underground spaces and worship in public, but where? Enter the Basilica. Christian basilicas were based on the ancient Roman basilicas, which weren't actually places of worship but were nonsecular areas used for law courts and other civic purposes, but their layouts made sense to be used for the group worship Christians required. Some were long and narrow and others added transepts on either side of the apse, such as the one below.

One of the most famous basilicas is Old St. Peter's Basilica. It was commissioned to be built by the Roman emperor Constantine and took over 30 years to completion. It had a very plain exterior but a very ornate interior, and was 700 feet long (crazy).

 (Floor plan and elevation of Old St. Peter's)

Unfortunately Old St. Peter's was torn down, but people today can visit St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

 (Current day St. Peter's Basilica interior shot)

And even to this day, the long and narrow basilica style is the prominent architectural style for Christian churches.

(Modern day Catholic church)

Other blogs- I looked at Hannah's blog for early Christianity and I really liked her in depth discussion on the catacombs of ancient Rome. While I only slightly touched on the fact that Christians had to hide their religious practices, she really got to the meat of it. The video on the Catacombs on San Callisto was great! It really showed how intense these underground lairs were. Some of them had five different level. That takes a lot of dedication to the early believers. Fascinating. 

I also looked at Margaret's blog and I enjoyed reading her explanation on the importance of the fish symbol. Christians would use this drawing of a fish to let other Christians know that they could trust each other.