Early Christian

Christianity was the largest religion of all time. Early Christian lasted from 330-800 C.E while the Byzantine lasted from 330-1453 C.E, the longest reign in history. Rome tolerated most religions, but Christianity was the one that posed as a threat to them. Christianity claimed that there was one God, and the followers were murdered after the death of Jesus Christ. Christianity prospered under persecution and became an underground religion. Many followers were a part of the lower class. Since Christianity promoted access to God through Jesus in a personal relationship, it provided great hope to the people and was the reason it prospered. Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity through Edict of Milan and recognized it as a valid religion. He allowed them all rights and privileges and garnered support of the Christian Church. Early Christians met in homes of existing buildings because they didn't have many places of worship. The Roman temples weren't constructed to accommodate group worship. Christian Architecture had centrally planned buildings, separate baptisteries and their chief goal was to glorify God.

Old St. Peter's Cathedral was the chief monument of Christianity. St. Peter was an apostle it is believed that his tomb is in the Cathedral. It has masonry walls, clerestory windows, wood roof and the nave was as high as many Gothic cathedrals to come. The total length is 700 feet.

Here is a picture of the Sant’ Apllinare In Classe. It is defined by geometric volumn, 24 columns of Greek marble, a Triumphal arch and a semi vaulted apse with mosaics. There are two styles of churches, Basilica and Centralized.

The basilica is in the shape of a cross whereas, the centralized style can fit more people.

Very few examples of Christian furniture exist. They had elaborate, rich decoration with caving and jewels. Storage was very important to them to store artifacts and Eucharist. Their motifs were the Cross, doves, lambs and fish.

Here are some examples of Early Christian furniture.

Clive Christian is a fantastic designer that creates beautiful Christian designs and makes them fit into today's style.

I liked Jessica's blog and how she talked about the architecture of the churches. She had great pictures and described them very well. I also liked how Sammy talked about how the Christians adapted from the Roman architecture and how they had to change the churches to fit their worship style.