College of Environmental Design
Department of Architecture, UC Berkeley
Architecture Slide Library
Architecture 170 - Fall 1996 - Dell Upton - October 1
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NB: All dates for the remainder of the course are CE, unless otherwise noted.
I. EARLY CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE IN CONTEXT. Early Christian architecture as reworking, redirection of architectural and cultural ideas prevalent in architecture of Roman empire. The dual character of religious life in imperial Rome.
II. CHRISTIAN BUILDING BEFORE THE 4TH CENTURY. Almost none before ca. 200. Characteristic Christian places of the 3C:
A. Burial Places. Feasts and commemorative ceremonies. Construction of cemeteries: most famous are catacombs: underground passages cut into rock, beginning ca. 200, with wall niches. Sometimes start from established hypogaea (family tombs). Note: loci, cubiculi, painted decorations, cataracts.
B. Gathering Places: House churches or Domus Ecclesiae. The Community House at Dura-Europos, 231. Note: adaptation of courtyard house; baptistery; meeting room; lack of specifically church-like features other than these.
III. CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND "THE PEACE OF THE CHURCH." Attempts of Diocletian [r. 284-305] to stabilize the empire. Victory of Constantine [d. 337] at Milvian Bridge, 312. Arch of Constantine, ca. 315. Edict of Toleration, 313. The elevation of the church to official status. Constantine's role. Buildings for the newly important institution:
A. Basilicas. The Basilica in Roman life. Ex.: Basilica of Maxentius, Rome, early 4C. Melding of Imperial and Christian concepts: the Christian basilica as a new entity. The Christian basilica: Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, ca. 430. Note: aisled structure with clerestory; flat ceiling; apse; triumphal arch. Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, ca. 500. Note: plan, mosaics.
B. Martyria. Martyrs as witnesses to the truth of Christianity. The construction of martyria in cemeteries; buildings to shelter them. The rotunda as a traditional tomb. The concept of martyrium encompasses not only people as witnesses to faith, but spots where important events took place. Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, ca. 330-350. Note: rotunda, basilica, enclosed court, atrium.
Western and eastern attempts to merge the martyrium and the meeting hall. [1] Western solutions. Old St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, ca. 324-337. Note: St. Peter's monument; apse; transept; basilica; atrium. Medieval descendants. [2] Eastern solutions. Monastery of St. Simeon Stylites, Qal`at Sim`an, Syria, ca. 450-70. Four basilicas focusing on a central rotunda. The problem of combining centrality and axiality.