Santa Costanza
![View of the mausoleum of Santa Costanza and the remaining wall of the Constantinian basilica (photo taken from its apse).](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Santa_Costanza_-_vista_dalla_basilica_costantiniana.jpg)
According to the traditional view, Santa Costanza was built around the reign of Constantine I as a mausoleum for his daughter Constantina, later also known as Constantia or Costanza, who died in AD 354. However, more recent excavations have called this date (and therefore the original purpose of the building) into question. Ultimately, Constantina's sarcophagus was housed here, but it may have been moved from an earlier location.
The mausoleum is of circular form with an ambulatory surrounding a central dome. The fabric of Santa Costanza survives in essentially its original form. Despite the loss of the coloured stone veneers of the walls, some damage to the mosaics and incorrect restoration, the building stands in excellent condition as a prime example of Early Christian art and architecture. The vaults of the apses and ambulatory display well preserved examples of Late Roman mosaics. A key component which is missing from the decorative scheme is the mosaic of the central dome. In the sixteenth century, watercolours were made of this central dome so the pictorial scheme can be hypothetically reconstructed. The large porphyry sarcophagus of either Constantina or her sister Helena has survived intact, and is now in the Vatican Museum – an object of great significance to the study of the art of Late Antiquity. Provided by Wikipedia
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222by Lucia Dominguez, Costanza Bonadonna, Corine Frischknecht, Scira Menoni, Alexander GarciaGet full text
Published 2021-06-01
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227by Vincenzo Bagarello, Costanza Di Stefano, Vito Ferro, Giordano Giuseppe, Massimo IovinoGet full text
Published 2009-09-01
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231by Costanza Chiapponi, Maxie Witt, Gabriele E Dlugosch, Veit Gülberg, Matthias SiebeckGet full text
Published 2016-01-01
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232by Costanza Fiorentino, Domenico Ventrella, Luisa Giglio, Enza Di Giacomo, Raffaele LopezGet full text
Published 2010-06-01
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238by Claudia Costanza Cabezas-Zábala, Blanca Cecilia Hernández-Torres, Melier Vargas-ZarateGet full text
Published 2016-10-01
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