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Santa Prassede |
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written
by liu9700 / 10.24.2005 |
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Assignment |
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When you step inside of Santa Prassede and take in your surroundings it is hard to believe that you are standing in a church of western civilization. The mosaics and other elements of the architecture are reminiscent of a more eastern and ancient tradition, perhaps Byzantine. I remember noting the state of the church as an indication of its age; in particular the cracked, water-damaged ceiling, uncoated walls and noticeably mismatched columns. This is a church that was clearly erected just at the beginning of the Christian-times in Rome. It seems a transitional building, one that eased together the ideas of this new cult religion into the established pagan roots of the community. This is evident in the mosaic that is found behind the main altar. In this image there is depicted a hand lowering an olive branch onto the head of Jesus, a symbol familiar to the ancient Romans as a representation of triumph and honor. We can also spot a phoenix in the palm tree on the left-hand portion of the mosaic. This mythological creature was formally a symbol for rebirth and the perpetual existence of the Roman Empire.
In comparing St. Peter’s Basilica to S. Prassede it is difficult to comprehend that the two places are meant to serve the same basic function: a place of worship for the followers of Christ. The Basilica stands as the ideal template for what a Christian church should look like, more than that it is a symbol of the current Church’s power, its history and its doctrine. Unlike S. Prassede, everything here is clean, symmetrical and well-ordered. The space is wide and open where S. Prassede is more closed in. The mosaics in St. Peter’s are renditions of more modern paintings, Raphael and Caravaggio. I saw no connection to the pagan past, other than the fact its foundations were built upon the Circus of Nero.
While both churches function to proliferate the Christian religion they do so in different manners. S. Prassede was built long before S. Peter’s Basilica. The audience it intended to convert and keep was from a pagan background, members of the Roman Empire. To promote themselves they mixed the new with the familiar. St. Peter’s, on the other hand, was built during a time when the church wielded much power. The Basilica demonstrates a Christianity that was established and accepted. Its existence is to show the strength and stability of the Church, and its intention to remain for many centuries to come.
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