Daily Updates
Week Nine: 19 November
19 November. Charles Runckel Reporting
S. Paolo fuori le mura (Basilica of St. Paul's outside the walls)
The Basilica of St. Paul's is one of the seven great pilgrimage churches of Rome, built to provide a suitable venue for the veneration of the Apostle St. Paul, who is entombed beneath the transept. The Basilica was conceived in the late 4th century as St. Paul briefly rose in popularity and the reigning emperors, Valentinian II, Theodosius and Arcadius, began construction of a basilica to rival St. Peter's in 384 or 386 AD. The construction was finished by Honorius at the end of the fourth century (Cerioni 5) but suffered a series of major fires and earthquakes during the next 1600 years and had to be restored many times. In 1823, a massive fire almost completely destroyed the basilica, which was rebuilt according to the original plan, though with some conceits to the tastes of the 19th century. The Roman basilica, essentially a covered hall composed of a pair or more of colonnades holding up a wooden roof, served as a multi-purpose though rarely religious structure, with business gatherings and judicial proceedings dominating. When the emperor Constantine began supporting the Christian religion, the basilica design was adapted to the needs of Christian congregations as a place of meeting and as covered burial halls. An apse, used in Roman funerary or religious structures, was incorporated, as was a porticoed forecourt. The Basilicas of St. Peter's and St. Paul's are unique in early Roman church construction as they also include a transept perpendicular to the standard nave where the tomb of the Apostle could be venerated, a plan that would not become standard for centuries (Krautheimer 2000, 19-31). St. Paul's offers a glimpse of what Old St. Peter's looked like as it was originally meant to emulate and match it, neccesary as the New St. Peter's is built directly on the old site. The original construction of the massive St. Paul's (131 m long, 65 m wide and 30 m high) involved a large nave 24 m (80 RF) wide and 97 m (319 RF) long supported by two rows of twenty white marble spolia columns topped with a mix of composite and Corinthian capitals (Krautheimer 1986, 88). The aisle rows were also composed of twenty smaller columns topped with new Corinthian capitals. Forty-two windows and the bright columns served to illuminate the nave, a major advance over earlier basilicas. The columns support an arcade that goes on to hold up an upper wall and clerestory, another innovation as prior to the 4th century columns usually supported only entablatures, not arcades. Colonnades surround a square forecourt in front of the nave, now ornamented with a statue of St. Paul (Cerioni 17). The transept is separated from the nave by a triumphal arch and exists at a different ground level, further dividing the building. The crypt of St. Paul, later opened to the transept, rests near the nave boundary and is the purpose of the basilica. In the past, pilgrims would lower strips of cloth to touch the bones of St. Paul, believing these would cure them of diseases. Connected to the transept are several chapels, a cloister and a bell tower that were all added centuries after the initial Roman construction. While lavish in terms of materials, size and lighting, the initial incarnation of the basilica was likely sparse in terms of decorations, with the more recognizable mosaics on the arch, apse and facade added later. The wall paintings and famous series of papal portraits are also later additions, leaving a possibly coffered ceiling and simple mosaics as the only major decorations in this austere structure, relying instead on an impressive colonnade and large open space to impress worshipers and pilgrims. References - Cerioni, Anna Maria and del Signore, Roberto. The Basilica of St. Paul Outside of Walls. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Vatican City, 2003. - Krautheimer, Richard. Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture. Yale University Press. New Haven, 1986. - Krautheimer, Richard. Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308. Princeton University Press. Princeton, 2000.
Plan of St. Paul's, showing the forecourt, nave, transept and cloister (After Cerioni)
The facade of St. Paul's, with the 19th century statue of the Apostle and reconstructed 13th century mosaic.
A view of the portico and statue
Original columns salvaged after the fire of 1823 and reused in the southern portico. One bears an inscription identifying the emperors responsible for its construction.
Composite capital of white marble, spolia used in the initial construction.
View from the nave showing an arcade supported by columns and three of the basilica's many windows.
View from the tomb in the transept along the nave.