Essay on Exploring Basilicas and Churches in Rome

When Pope Julius II heard about the artist’s accomplishments, he commissioned Michelangelo to create his tomb. However, Pope Julius turns his focus in funding to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica. Rome was overpassing a difficult time, and the Pope wanted to return it to its powerful roots. Michelangelo unhappy about the Pope not paying back for the stone, returned to Florence. Yet, the Pope

The Church of San Vitale is found in Ravenna with a brick facing. It is a centrally planned church with a ground level, gallery, and clerestory. The inside shows Old Testament

During all of this Brunelleschi not only built the dome in the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral (what today is still the biggest dome in the world), but mechanical marvels of worker platforms and lifts that managed to carry workers and hundreds pounds of materials hundreds feet in the air over the course of 28 years with only a single death. This showed how Brunelleschi was a mastermind in architecture and how he revived it.

walls, there are paintings of the Life of the Virgin. On the bottom of the walls there are images of the seven ecumenical councils. The song “The Last Judgement” is painted on the west wall. Numerous figures of martyrs are painted on the pillars, and there are also many icons. There used to be an icon of “Our Lady of Vladimir,” but later on the icon was moved to St. Basil’s Cathedral so it wouldn’t be stolen because it was so expensive. There are icons of the Virgin Hodegetria, Saint George, Trinity. There is a large iconostasis, which is a screen bearing icon that separates the sanctuary from the nave, that occupies the whole wide wall of the cathedral.

Before Constantine, Christian churches were often not much different than typical domestic architecture (Johnson, 282). After the legalization of Christianity in Rome, large churches known as basilicas sprung up in every major city of the Roman Empire. The basilicas were built with several parallel aisles separated by rows of columns, ending in a semicircular structure could often hold thousands of worshipers (Pollard, 286). Constantine himself was responsible for the construction of churches in Rome including the Church of St. Peter, and churches in the Holy Land including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and in Bethlehem, the Church of the Nativity (Johnson,

Religion played a significant role in the Roman civilization but, “many people believe that Rome was not a religious place. What they probably mean is that it was not a moral place.” (Burrell, 65) The Romans had innumerable gods that they worshiped which included giving gifts and sacrificing for their gods. Sacrificing animals was common for ancient Roman civilization. The idea of sacrificing came from the people before the Roman Empire was built. Religion primarily used sacrificing as a means of showing appreciation to the gods but later became a way to get things from the gods. The increases in the expansion of Rome lead to an increasing number of sacrifices. Roman sacrifice was done in many different ways and there were numerous

Over the past years of my life I have seen many changes, some for the good and others not as good. Change can be demanding and also crucial. The early believers would encounter this. One can see that significant change happened, when reading through the gospels and the book of acts it is obvious to the reader that the believers who followed Jesus would never be the same again.

Next, we have the Pantheon a wonderful temple in Rome which is now a church called Santa Maria ad Martyres. The Pantheon was built in 27-25 B.C. by magistrate, Marcus Agripa to commemorate the victory of Actium over Antony and Cleopatra. Unfoaryanty, the original temple burned down in 80 AD and it was restored between 193-211 by emperor, Septiums and Caracalla. Later, when Christianity replace paganism in Rome, the temple was give to Pope Boniface IV 608 AD. The Pantheon was the first to be Christianized in Rome. The Pantheon is 142 ft. wide and 142 ft. in height it is shaped as a sphere sitting on a cylinder. The place is resting in a solid ring wall while the outside is covered in cantilevered brick. The porch is made of 16 monolothic Corinituan

Both of these cathedrals are representations of the Catholic faith and the cathedrals were renown in their societies. The have been many structural grievances over the years. The meaning and value have been carried on as well.

An example of the Medici support to artists involves The Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. The dome of the chapel was built so large that no architect knew how to complete the rooftop structure and was a humiliating point in Florentine history. A contest to see who could develop a solution to complete the dome was won by a Florentine engineer named Brunelleschi, who felt he had found the solution. With the successful completion of the chapel, support from Cosimo de Medici and the holy consecration performed by the Pope, a great structure was once again a source of pride to the Florentines and the

shrine. Many churches claimed to possess relics of the burial site of Jesus Christ and of

St. Peter’s Basilica and La Sagrada Familia are structures with amazing architecture, but they are much more than just a structure. Both basilicas tell a story about not just the architects and their interests of certain architectural styles, but also about the history and story of Catholicism. La Sagrada Familia and St. Peter’s Basilica are not often compared due to the time in which they were built, as well as due to their different styles of art and architecture. However, despite their very different styles of architecture, they both serve Catholicism a similar purpose by uniting those believing in the Catholic faith in very similar ways by using these magnificent buildings as propaganda in a positive manner.

With such support from the state and the Emperor, the church was given a massive financial support, which was invested in the building of the Basilicas. They were used to perform rituals such as worship, baptism, prayers, scripture reading, preaching and recognition of the dead and the after life. The liturgy of the early churches was very plain. They were build on a rectangular classical floor plan. The Basilica floor plan was simple; consisting of a narthex (the outside building short end), apse, transept, and aisle such formation gives the idea of building resembling to the cross. The early Christians were inspiration to represent such building to the cross. Once more this is part of the spiritual journey of Christianity. The other model was the central plan which would consist of a dome in the middle of the church. Were all the activities would take place. Like the worship and the baptismal ritual. This center plan was more common in the Eastern-Orthodox churches. This shows the heritage of Roman Christian art from the early ancestors such as the Greeks and the Middle East. A great example is the San Vitale in Ravenna which was an important Byzantine outpost in Italy. San Vitale was constructed under the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 547. This church has a domed central core which

Pantheon is a masterpiece of Roman architecture; it was a unique building that combined two different styles. Michelangelo praised it as an angel design. It becomes the object of learning of Italian architects during Renaissance. Besides, many famous artists such as Raphael were buried here, but also the kings like Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I.

The area where the cathedral now stands was originally occupied by the ancient Metropolitan Church of the city under the title Saint Maria Maggiore in 836 (Boldorini 5).The name of the first architect of the Milan cathedral is not exactly known (Boldorini 5). In 1386, Giovanni Galeazzo Visconti, began the restoration project using the Gothic style after severe damage to the building (Benigni). In total, there are 6,000 statues inside and outside the cathedral, with 2,000 of them being a part of the exterior embellishments (Benigni). The design or layout of the interior of the church is that of a Latin cross, and