For the first 300 years of its history, Christianity was an underground religion that had no expression in building. When Emperor Constantine supported the spread of this belief in the Roman Empire, however, it became a state religion. The first monumental Christian church, San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome (313), had its origins in timber-roofed Roman hall structures. A mixed form of layout came to establish itself based on the shape of the Latin cross: a directional church with transepts and the spatial centre at the crossing. The liturgical centre, however, was situated in a discrete altar space.
This can be explained by the transcendental significance of the Christian church, which was not just a functional building, but a shrine and an image of heaven. That aspect is most pronounced in the Hagia Sophia, which had an enormous influence on both early Christian and Islamic building.
This can be explained by the transcendental significance of the Christian church, which was not just a functional building, but a shrine and an image of heaven. That aspect is most pronounced in the Hagia Sophia, which had an enormous influence on both early Christian and Islamic building.