History of Interior Design II: Early Christian

Statue of Constantine

The early Christians were poor and hold no social status in Roman society because it was illegal to be Christian. This changed during a civil war and the night before the battle of Maxentius vs. Constantine, Constantine had a dream of an angel with a Christian symbol. The next day during battle, Constantine bears a flag with a Christian symbol on it and wins the battle. This leads to the legalization of Christianity. Constantine is titled as the first Christian and eventually converts to Christianity on his deathbed.

Arch of Constantine

Because of his victory over Maxentius and ending the civil war, Constantine was gifted and arch - the Arch of Constantine as a 10 year anniversary present of the defeat. The arch was placed in Rome and is made entirely of marble. On of the interesting features on this arch, is the use of spolia. Spolia is taking decorative elements from one building and using them on another, it is a practice that is used throughout history.

These images show all the decorative parts that were taken from another building and added to the arch.

Santa Sabine Exterior

Santa Sabine Interior

After the legalization of Christianity, Christians were able to to gather publicly. the goal of the churches was to make them both functional and spiritual. Santa Sabine was the first Christian church built it is a Basilica-plan church. It's built of brick to show that they were humble and the interior is rich with spolia- the columns were taken from the temples and used to create a traffic flow.

A basilica-plan church was one of the two types of churches built. Basilica-plan churches were shaped like a cross. The other type of church is a central-plan church. Central-plan churches were more circular.

An example of a central-plan church is Santa Costanza . It was built in Rome was originally built as a tomb for Costanza, Constantine's granddaughter who later became a saint. A lot of the mosaics that once decorated the interiors walls of this church were torn down during WWII because of the bombings near the site. The grape vines on the ceiling symbolize Christ.