Mausoleum of Santa Costanza, Rome - PICTURES FROM ITALY (Est. 2001)

Santa Costanza: From Mausoleum to Church

1/8/2014

Walking Tours of Rome

Santa Costanza, Rome

Santa Costanza

In a quiet corner of Rome stands the church of Santa Costanza, which was originally the Mausoleum of Constantia and her sister Helena, daughters of the emperor Constantine the Great (r. 306-337).

The central space is surrounded by an ambulatory, made up of 24 pairs of granite columns. The barrel vaulting of the ambulatory is decorated with a series of remarkable mosaics (4th century).

The mausoleum was transformed into a baptistery before becoming a church in 1254.

Both Constantia and Helena were interred here. Constantia's monumental porphyry sarcophagus is now on display in the Vatican Museums, Helena's has not survived.

Interior of Santa Costanza, Rome

Interior of Santa Costanza

Mosaic, Santa Costanza, Rome

Mosaic

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My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England.

Since 200I I have been living in Italy, where I run private walking tours of Florence, Rome &
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