BASILICA
The term basilica (term is greek derived) refers to a large an important church that has been given special ceremonial rights by the Pope. Roman Catholic basilicas are Catholic pilgrimage sites, meaning they receive tens of millions of visitors per year. Below is a picture of St Peters Basilica in Vatican City. It is a major basilica of the Roman Catholic Church.
Initially basilicas were used for business and had no religious function at all in Roman times. The oldest known basilicas date back to 184 BC in Rome.
Architecture plays a large part in what makes up a basilica. Christians adopted a variation of the basilica for worship. It usually consisted of a central nave (hallway) with an aisle on each side. An altar on a platform was placed at the front of the hall for the clergy to officiate services. In most basilicas, the central nave is taller than the aisles, forming a row of windows called a clerestory. Below is a basic drawing that shows the structural elements of a gothic basilica.
The reason this term is important to our topic is because Hagia Sophia is a former Christian Patriarchal Basilica (church) that is located in Istanbul, Turkey. Is was the largest cathedral until the early 1500’s. It was built in 537 and is labeled famously as having Byzantine Architecture because it was built during the reign of Constantinople during the Roman Empire. It is well know for its massive dome.
Timeline:
537-1453: Orthodox Cathedral
1453-1931: Mosque
1935-present day: Museum
Below is a picture of Hagia Sophia.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia
Do you know what the process is the pope goes through to give a church these ceremonial rights? Is there a specified number of basilicas the pope can give these rights to?
It is interesting that initially they were used for business and had no religious functions, I wonder what changed this.
I couldn’t find anything about the ceremonial rights from ancient times when new basilicas were built. However I found more general information about blessing churches. I feel that it was probably something similar back then to what it is today. The Pope (or other religious figure) will bless churches with prayer. This is supposed to confer a sacredness so that they cannot be divested of their religious character or turned to profane use. I also found that they do this to keep evil spirits away. And to my knowledge I do not think there is a limited number of blessings a Pope can give. Good questions, thank you!
Do you know why our capitol buildings have this shape? Specifiacally in the dome. Other than that, your writing was very informative and written very well. Good job.
Interesting question! I’m not sure why other capitol buildings may have domes but I did find that the Boise Capitol building was inspired by the architecture of St. Peters Basilica in Rome and St. Pauls Cathedral in London. Which would indicate why it has such a large and infamous dome, it was modeled after a basilica!