Coemeterial Basilica
A coemeterial basilica (from coemeterium, lat. ' Resting place', from ancient Greek κοιμητήριον, 'bedroom', 'resting place') is a church or basilica that is primarily used for the allocation of graves and therefore also as a funeral basilica or covered cemetery ( coemeterium subteglatum ) referred to as. 'Coemeterialbasilika' functions as an umbrella term for cemetery churches in general and for colloquial basilicas, which were mainly built in Rome during the 4th century.
Colloquial Basilica
The basilica , the oldest known form of a coemeterial basilica, is usually a three-aisled pillar basilica , the aisles of which run semicircularly around the central nave, while the central nave is kept open by pillar arcades for access to the side aisles. In the period after 315 Constantine I and the imperial family erected basilicas (Italian basilica circiforme) over the graves of some martyrs buried outside the city walls in order to be buried as close as possible to the saints as their advocates ( retro sanctos ' with the saints'). [1] This gave rise to the new type of basilica, which can only be found in Rome and only within the period between 315 and the end of the 4th century.
The six colloquial basilicas rediscovered in Rome include:
- Basilica Santi Marcellino e Pietro on Via Labicana
- Communal basilica at Tor de'Schiavi on Via Praenestina
- Basilica Apostolorum on the Via Appia ( San Sebastiano fuori le mura )
- Anonymous basilica on Via Ardeatina
- Basilica of Sant'Agnese on Via Nomentana ( Sant'Agnese fuori le mura )
- Basilica maior on Via Tiburtina ( Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls ).
Churches dating back to Coemeterialbasiliken
The following can be mentioned as examples:
- Imperial Abbey of St. Maximin in Trier : Construction of a Christian grave building in the 4th century as a predecessor to the Benedictine abbey church
- Church of St. Ursula in Cologne
- Saint-Denis Cathedral in Saint-Denis , France → Main articles: List of tombs of European monarchs and plunder of the royal tombs of Saint-Denis .
literature
- Steffen Diefenbach : Roman memory rooms. Memory of saints and collective identities in Rome from the 3rd to 5th centuries AD , Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2007, p. 631.
- Walther Buchowiecki : Handbook of the Churches of Rome. The Roman sacred building in history and art from early Christian times to the present. Hollinek, Vienna 1967–1997, Vol. 1–4.