The Basilica Nova ruins never fail to impress
tourists with their size and mass. The original struc-
ture was 300 feet long and 215 feet wide. Brick-
faced concrete walls 20 feet thick supported coffered
barrel vaults in the aisles. These vaults also but-
tressed the groin vaults of the nave, which was 115
feet high. The walls and floors were richly marbled
and stuccoed. The reconstruction in FIG. 10-78ef-
fectively suggests the immensity of the interior,
where the great vaults dwarf even the emperor’s
colossal portrait. The drawing also clearly reveals
the fenestration of the groin vaults, a lighting sys-
tem akin to the clerestory of a traditional stone-
and-timber basilica. Here, Roman builders applied
to the Roman basilica the lessons learned in the de-
sign and construction of buildings such as Trajan’s
great market hall (FIG. 10-46) and the Baths of Dio-
cletian (FIG. 10-67).AULA PALATINA, TRIERAt Trier (ancient
Augusta Treverorum) on the Moselle River in Ger-
many, the imperial seat of Constantius Chlorus as
Caesar of the West, Constantine built a new palace
complex. It included a basilica-like audience hall,
the Aula Palatina (FIG. 10-79), of traditional form
and materials. The Aula Palatina measures about
190 feet long and 95 feet wide and has an austere
brick exterior, which was enlivened somewhat by
highlighting in grayish white stucco. The use of
lead-framed panes of glass for the windows en-
abled the builders to give life and movement to the
blank exterior surfaces.
Inside (FIG. 10-80), the audience hall was also
very simple. Its flat, wooden, coffered ceiling is some
95 feet above the floor. The interior has no aisles,
only a wide space with two stories of large windows
that provide ample light. At the narrow north end,
the main hall is divided from the semicircular apse
(which also has a flat ceiling) by a so-called chancel
arch.The Aula Palatina’s interior is quite severe, al-
though marble veneer and mosaics originally cov-
ered the arch and apse to provide a magnificent en-
vironment for the enthroned emperor. The design of
both the interior and exterior has close parallels in
many Early Christian churches.Late Empire 28510-79Aula Palatina (exterior), Trier, Germany, early fourth century ce.
The austere brick exterior of Constantine’s Aula Palatina at Trier is typical of later Roman
architecture. Two stories of windows with lead-framed panes of glass take up most of the
surface area.
10-80Aula Palatina (interior), Trier, Germany,
early fourth century ce.
The interior of the audience hall of Constantine’s
palace complex in Germany resembles a timber-
roofed basilica with an apse at one end, but it has
no aisles. The large windows provided ample
illumination.