Visual Analysis Paper - The Basilica of Maxentius - Ludwig Andreas Elio Hochleitner

The Basilica of Maxentius
Visual Analysis Paper
by Ludwig Hochleitner
13th December 2020
THE BASILICA NOVA OF
MAXENTIUS AND CONSTANTINE
The Basilica Nova was the last civic basilica
of Ancient Rome and marked the zenith of the
grandiose Roman construction era. It was built
in a historical moment of great turbulence with a
civil war causing power shifts within the Empire
culminating in the victorious self-proclamation of
Emperor Constantine, the first Roman Emperor
that would convert to Christianity. The intentions
behind the Basilica erected by Maxentius during
his reign capture a pivotal moment in Ancient
Rome and its design embodies an accumulated
architectural intelligence that would be mobilised
in this form for the very last time. The history of
the Basilica symbolises the transition from Pagan
religion to Christianity. Much of the Basilica’s dynamic character cannot be read in the static remains of the 21st century Roman Forum, and it is
only the scale of the ruins that hints at a by-gone
era.
This essay elaborates how the formal and functional aspects of the Basilica Nova, when informed by the historical and societal context,
encapsulate the significance of the building as a
monument in a ‘pivotal’ moment of history, where
the design itself incorporates the transition from
Pagan to Christian religion in Ancient Rome.
the central nave and determine the spatial division.2 The enclosure is accentuated by two apses
on the northern and western elevations. These
were used for the tribunal and to house a colossal statue of Constantine himself. The monumental scale of the building hints at the expertise of
the Roman architects and the coordinated intelligence mobilised to accomplish such a construction.
In Ancient Rome Basilicas were public buildings
used for the imparting of law as well as a place to
do business. They were accessible to the general
public.3 The Basilica of Maxentius differed from
the usual Basilica typology by being single-storied, compared to the double-storied precedents
such as the Basilica Ulpia. This, however, did not
diminish its size. Its imposing ceilings provided
protection from the weather, providing an incredible interior space, lit by large openings in the
aisles and lunettes for the nave.4
The Basilica’s structure was modelled on the
great halls of the Baths of Diocletian5 using
cross-vaults for the first time in a civic Basilica.
The structural intelligence present in the architecture suggests how it was made possible only
by the accumulated experience and expertise of
ANALYSIS
The Basilica Nova is located in the centre of
the Roman Forum. It was accessed through the
Via Sacra, which is still used in the archeological
site today. The building’s oblong footprint measures about 82 by 63 meters and is characterised
by a 25m wide central nave and three large barrel-vaulted aisles mirrored on each side.1 Four
enormous piers support the large cross-vaults of
figure 1 Ruins viewed from Palatine hill, 2020
figure 2 Ruins of central barrel vault with northern apse, 2020
the construction industry. For example, to make
the concrete durable the Romans covered it with
bricks and then cladded those bricks with stone.6
The cladding consisted of the lavish application
of polychromatic marbles resulting in the most
incredible enhancement of the interior.
To give proportion and unity to the scale of the
building, the overall design worked according to
a grouping of 3 used for openings, archways and
niches.7 The Vitruvian trinomial is clearly legible
in its design, and its true meaning, namely the inter-dependence of Utilitas, Firmitas and Venustas
really comes to light in its analysis.
In order to fully understand the Basilica’s meaning, however, there is the need to infuse the formal aspects with the historical context of its construction. Before 306 the Empire was ruled by a
tetrarchy. In 298 Diocletian started a great construction project in the city of Rome, which must
have provided the organisational structure that
Maxentius employed to erect his Basilica.8 In 306
Maxentius proclaimed himself as conservator Ur-
bis Suae and started to build architecture worthy
of the eternal city.9 The concept of Euergetism10
was used by Maxentius as an instrument for his
propagandist politics.11 Simply put, the building
of public architecture like the Basilica would allow him to gain popularity among the Roman citizens.
Before he could see it finished, he was defeated
by Constantine in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge
in 312 after which the Senate dedicated the building to Constantine.12 Constantine made significant alterations to the design moving the tribunal
to a new northern apse to house his colossus in
the more important longitudinal apse. He also
created a southern entrance resulting overall in
a significant alteration of the emphasis of the design.13
In the 4th century the Basilica Nova became the
judicial seat of the prefecture in charge of the administrative functions of the city14, and it is probably the place where Constantine imparted the
law that would end the persecution of Christians.
Interestingly, although Maxentius was not Christian, it was probably his tolerance edict that facilitated the spread of Christianity in Roman society
under Constantine.15
SIGNIFICANCE
The contrast between the severity of the exterior
and the awe-invoking interior16 is emblematic for
a shift that occurred in public architecture in gen-
figure 3 Constantine’s colossal head (Capitoline Museum)
figure 4 Interior reconstruction drawing
eral. This shift consisted of an enhancement of
interior spaces creating a dialectic between the
exterior and interior. The unusual typology of the
Basilica of Maxentius was determined by the importance placed on the interior in the sense that a
second level could not be included in the design
due to the application of vaulted ceilings.
The “Reign of Maxentius (306-312) saw the zenith of the art of construction on the grand scale
in service of the Empire”17 and the simpler form of
buttressing the cross-vaults in the Basilica clearly
implies how the Romans were constantly18 adapting and refining their arch systems. The amalgamation of typical Roman architecture into a new
synthesis of structure is emblematic.19 Built in a
time period when Rome was being neglected,
with Constantine building a great Basilica in Trier
(310), the Basilica Nova in Rome acted as a kind
of retribution on behalf of Maxentius. Constantine
would not erect any great public buildings after
the Basilica Nova and not make use of the refined
dome and vault structures.20 This is what makes
the Basilica an apotheosis of grand Roman Architecture.
The comparison to the contemporary Basilica in
Trier yields a radical difference in the understanding of architecture, with the Basilica in Rome as
an innovative project without direct precedents
relying on the possibilities of Roman concrete
construction and the Basilica in Trier as a clearly identifiable typological context relying on the
tried and tested, traditional wood roof system.21
This makes Constantine’s alteration to the Basilica’s layout all the more relevant. When taking
over the project he immediately put the scalpers
to work to perform damnatio memoriae remodelling the colossus of Maxentius, and didn’t his alteration of the emphasis with a secondary axis for
the tribunal inscribe the cross monogram into the
design, the same symbol inscribed on the shields
of his troops massed at the banks of the Tiber
when he defeated Maxentius ad saxa rubra.22
figure 5 Diagram of inscribed cross layout
Thus, the Basilica Nova’s design itself embodies
the transitional period from Paganism to Christianity, and as the last great civic Basilica of Antiquity, it marks the end of an era and the beginning
of a new one. On a final note, the implication of
this analysis makes one wonder what contemporary architecture in our times can be discovered
as being emblematic for shifts occurring in society and how the hindsight of this paper might
very well be a kind of foresight too.
1222 words
ENDNOTES
1 G. T. Rivoira, “Maxentius”/“Constantine” in Roman Architecture and its principles of construction under the Empire
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925): p. 212
2 Ibid.
3 Anthony Minoprio, “A Restoration of the Basilica of Constantine, Rome”, Papers of the British School at Rome, Vol. 12
(1932): p. 1
4 G. T. Rivoira, Ibid. p. 214
5 Ibid. p. 212
6 David Watkins, The Roman Forum (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2009): p.48
7 Anthony Minoprio, Ibid. p. 19
8 Carlo Giavarini, La Basilica di Massenzio: Il monumento, i
materiali, le strutture, la stabilità (Roma: “L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2005): p. 21
9 David Watkins, Ibid. p. 46
10 Euergetism, in Greco-Roman antiquity, the phenomenon of
elite benefaction to towns and communities through voluntary gifts, such as public buildings or endowments for various
forms of festival or distribution. The phenomenon is regarded
by many historians as critical to understanding how city-states
figure 7 South elevation
functioned in the Hellenistic Greek east and throughout the
wider Mediterranean world in the Roman republican and
imperial eras. (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2017)
11 Carlo Giavarini, Ibid. p. 11
12 Anthony Minoprio, Ibid. p. 1
13 Ibid. p. 10
14 David Watkins, Ibid. p. 46
15 Bernhard Kriegsbaum, “Die Religionspolitik des Kaisers
Maxentius”, Archivum Historiae Pontificiae, Vol. 30 (1992): pp.
50
16 Anthony Minoprio, Ibid. p. 19
17 G. T. Rivoira, Ibid. p. 211
18 Ibid. p. 214
figure 6 Axonometric detail of barrel vault and pier
19 Carlo Giavarini, Ibid. p. 12
20 G. T. Rivoira, Ibid. p. 220
21 Carlo Giavarini, Ibid. p. 12
22 G. T. Rivoira, Ibid. p. 220
IMAGE BIBLIOGRAPHY
figure 1: Photograph taken by Ludwig Hochleitner
figure 2: Photograph taken by Ludwig Hochleitner
figure 3: Taken from David Watkins Ibid.
figure 4: Taken from David Watkins Ibid.
figure 5: Diagram drawn by Ludwig Hochleitner
figure 6: Axonometric by Auguste Choisy
figure 7: Taken from Anthony Minoprio, Ibid.
figure 7: Taken from Anthony Minoprio, Ibid.
figure 8 South-North section
Annotated Bibliography
David Watkins, The Roman Forum (Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2009):
page range, https://archive.org/details/romanforum00watk/mode/2up
I used this book to get an overall impression of
the Basilica and how it fitted into its context, it is
also a fairly recent book, which makes it a good
counterpart to G.T. Rivoira’s book that was written about one century prior. Both text are very
short and boths synthetically describe the most
important aspects of the Basilica.
G. T. Rivoira, “Maxentius”/“Constantine” in Roman Architecture and its principles of construction under the Empire (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1925): pp. 211-230, https://archive.org/details/romanarchitectur0000rivo/page/n11/mode/2up
G. T. Rivoira comprehensive study of Roman Architecture is 20th century book that covers the
most important aspects of the Basilica. It similar to David Watkins book the Roman Forum
and it was interesting to compare the two.
Anthony Minoprio, “A Restoration of the Basilica of Constantine, Rome”, Papers of the British
School at Rome, Vol. 12 (1932): pp.1-25, https://
www.jstor.org/stable/40310435
This text was the first comprensive reconstruction of the Basilica done in the early 20th
century. It points formal aspects and goes into
how the Basilica was constructed. It borrows
information from G. T. Roivoira book that was
published only 7 years before. The architectural drawing produced in this book are exceptional and really show what the Basilica looked
liked. Giavarini points out in his 2005 book that
it Minoprio’s research was the only comprehensive reconstruction of the building to date.
The drawings really helped me to visualize the
architecture.
Carlo Giavarini, La Basilica di Massenzio: Il monumento, i materiali, le strutture, la stabilità (Roma:
“L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2005): pp. 9-60, https://
books.google.es/books?id=w2vNMgwrTlIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
This book largely covers the technical aspects
of the construction of the Basilica. It uses previously researched data from Minoprio, but
brings it to a more advanced level due to the
computer technology of the early 2000s and
due to an inter-disciplinary research to understand how it was built. It has a brief chapter
about the design of the Basilica, which offered
synthetical conclusions about the intentions
and the historical background.
Bernhard Kriegsbaum, “Die Religionspolitik des
Kaisers Maxentius”, Archivum Historiae Pontificiae, Vol. 30 (1992): pp.7-54, https://www.jstor.org/
stable/23564572
This text is published in a journal of Pontifical
Gregorian University and Bernard Kriegsbaum
is a German theologian. One of the things I
found relevant to my essay in this text is how
Kriegsbaum elaborated Maxentius position towards the Christian religion. He proves that the
hypothesis that Maxentius was Christian is very
unlikely and a mistaken interpretation of the evidence, but at the same time he describes how
Maxentius issued an edict of tolerance towards
Christianity consisting of a minority in Rome at
the same. I think this information is highly valuable to understand the transition to Constantine in terms of politics during the time period
in which the Basilica of Maxentius was built.