Santi Giovanni e Paolo

The Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo is one of Rome's original parish churches, known as tituli. These were some of the first legal churches in Rome, often built over private houses where Christians once met illegally. The original structures of some of these houses, including at Santi Giovanni e Paolo, are preserved beneath the current church buildings.12

The church is a basilica, a rectangular architectural style that became the model for Western ecclesiastical buildings. This design typically features a nave separated from side aisles by columns, an atrium or narthex at the west end, and an apse at the east. In the 4th century, the addition of a transept created a cross-shaped structure.1234