Santa Costanza

church, Rome, Italy

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July 13, 2026

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The Church of Santa Costanza in Rome, Italy, was originally built around 320 CE as a mausoleum for Constantia, daughter of Emperor Constantine. This centrally planned, circular building features an interior with concentric rings of columns supporting an architrave and a large dome.1

Santa Costanza is renowned for its early Christian mosaics, some of which depict interwoven crosses, foliage, and geometric patterns, as well as vines with putti. While many mosaics have been lost, the surviving examples are significant for their age and artistry. The mausoleum was consecrated as a church in 1254 and remains in use today. Its design may have influenced other mausoleums, such as the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.12

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Western architecture
Second period, after 313 ce
The deconsecrated church of Santa Costanza in Rome, built between 337 and 350 for members of the imperial family, was a rotunda with an ambulatory or circular walkway separated from the central area by columns; the mausoleum of Centcelles (Tarragona) in Spain, likewise a rotunda, was probably the burial…
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The deconsecrated church of Santa Costanza in Rome, built between 337 and 350 for members of the imperial family, was a rotunda with an ambulatory or circular walkway separated from the central area by columns; the mausoleum of Centcelles (Tarragona) in Spain, likewise a rotunda, was probably the burial…
Read More

mosaic
Glass
…of the vault mosaics in Santa Costanza in Rome. Later, when this use of gold for imitation purposes had become more refined, some spectacular effects were produced in the depiction of garments. The Good Shepherd in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia at Ravenna (c. 450 ce) is dressed in golden…
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…of the vault mosaics in Santa Costanza in Rome. Later, when this use of gold for imitation purposes had become more refined, some spectacular effects were produced in the depiction of garments. The Good Shepherd in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia at Ravenna (c. 450 ce) is dressed in golden…
Read More