973 



BASILICA. 



BASILICA. 



974 



edifices were both light and spacious, and better adapted to the cere- ! Christian Basilicae, which was built on the site of his own palace of 



monies of the new refigion than the temples of the Pagans. ; Lateran, on Mount Cfclius. Shortly afterwards he built the Basilica of 



Constantino has the reputation of having erected the first of these j St. Peter, on the site of the Circus of Nero ; and finally commenced a 



Interior View of the Basilica of St. 'Agnese at Home, from a work on Roman Church Basilicre by I. G. G., Roma, 1823 and 1824. 



Scale of Feet. 



40 SO 



Elevation of the Basilica at Vicenza, built by Palladio. 



100. 



third, that of St. Paul, without the walls of Rome. This church was 

 finished fifty years afterwards by Theodosius, who, if we may trust 

 Procopius, built a continuous portico from the city to the Basilica, 

 covered with a copper roof. St. Peter's was decorated with one hun- 



dred columns of white marble ; it is however now replaced by a more 

 modern structure, the largest of the kind in the world. The external 

 part of the Basilica of S. Giovanni Laterano is of modern construction. 

 St. Paul's without the walls was burnt down some years since, but was 



