Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

monumental proportions and amplified its theme in numerous in-
genious variations (see Chapter 12).In the West, builders generally
used the central plan for structures adjacent to the main basilicas,
such as mausoleums, baptisteries, and private chapels, rather than
for churches, as in the East.
A highly refined example of the central-plan design is Santa
Costanza (FIGS. 11-11and 11-12), built on the northern out-
skirts of Rome in the mid-fourth century, possibly as the mau-
soleum for Constantina, the emperor Constantine’s daughter. Re-
cent excavations have called the traditional identification into
question, but Constantina’s monumental porphyry sarcophagus
stood in the building, even if the structure was not originally her
tomb. The mausoleum, later converted into a church, stood next to

the basilican church of Saint Agnes, who was buried in a nearby cat-

acomb. Santa Costanza has antecedents traceable to the tholos

tombs (FIGS. 4-20and 4-21) of the Mycenaeans, but its immediate

predecessors were the domed structures of the Romans, such as the

Pantheon (FIGS. 10-49to 10-51) and, especially, imperial mau-

soleums such as Diocletian’s (FIG. 10-74) at Split. At Santa Costanza,

the architect modified the interior design of the Roman buildings to

accommodate an ambulatory,a ringlike barrel-vaulted corridor sep-

arated from the central domed cylinder by a dozen pairs of columns.

Like Early Christian basilicas, Santa Costanza has a severe brick

exterior. Its interior was once richly adorned with mosaics, although

most are lost. Old and New Testament themes appeared side by side,

as in the catacombs and on Early Christian sarcophagi. The Santa

300 Chapter 11 LATE ANTIQUITY

11-11Interior of Santa Costanza, Rome, Italy, ca. 337–351.

Possibly built as the mausoleum of Constantine’s daughter, Santa

Costanza later became a church. Its central plan, featuring a domed

interior, would become the preferred form for Byzantine churches.

11-12Plan of Santa Costanza, Rome, Italy, ca. 337–351.

Santa Costanza has antecedents in the domed temples (FIG. 10-51)

and mausoleums (FIG. 10-74) of the Romans, but its plan, with 12 pairs

of columns and an ambulatory, is unique.

N

0 10 20 30 feet

0 5 1 0 meters

Ambulatory

11-13Detail of vault mosaic in the

ambulatory of Santa Costanza, Rome, Italy,

ca. 337–351.

The vault mosaics of Santa Costanza depict

putti harvesting grapes and producing wine,

motifs associated with Bacchus, but for a

Christian such scenes brought to mind the

Eucharist and Christ’s blood.