It has a dominant center axis from the entrance to the apse, or location of the altar.
Now plain, the walls apparently originally were decorated with mosaics.This interior would have had a dramatically different effect than the classical building.

The Basilica of Santa Sabina: Origins and Transformations. See the bottom of each page for copyright information. The wall of the nave is broken by clerestory windows that provide direct lighting in the nave. All you can see is gold, jewels and silk…You simply cannot imagine the number and sheer weight of the candles, tapers, lamps and everything else they use for the services…They are beyond description, and so is the magnificent building itself. Like the Trier basilica, the Church of Santa Sabina has a dominant central axis that leads from the entrance to the apse, the site of the altar. The postal address is Piazza Pietro d'Illiria 1, and it is on the Aventino (part of the rione Ripa). She was an Early Christian martyr who was beheaded in 125 CE (probably) and her feast day is August 29th (which I why I had this blog post go live then, timing is everything). The Santa Sabina is an example of an earl Christian basilica, and it typifies the new Roman standard basilica of the fifth century in both plan and proportion. 231–292, 379.Acta Capitulorum Provincialium, Provinciae Romanae Ordinis Praedicatorum, 1265, n. 12, in Corpus Thomisticum, "Tenuit studium Rome, quasi totam Philosophiam, sive Moralem, sive Naturalem exposuit." None of this supports the weight, but is meant to visualize the weight of the building. 1320." The architecture is relatively simple with a wooden, truss roof. This central space is known as the nave, and is flanked on either side by side aisles. However, the door was most likely constructed near the same time as the erection of the Church of Santa Sabina in 432, as the powerful figure in the chlamys scene carving shares stylistic similarities with depictions of Some scholars have written that Honorius III was a member of the Following the curriculum of studies laid out in the capitular acts of 1291 the Santa Sabina Pirerre Mandonnet, "Order of Preachers" Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913; Joan Barclay Lloyd, "Medieval Dominican Architecture at Santa Sabina in Rome, c. 1219 – c. The walls are broken down horizontally into levels by entablatures. Although this decor does not physically support the load of the building, the effect is to visualize the weight of the building. Early Christian basilica churches, like Santa Sabina, were influenced by the plans of . Huc evangelizandi causa fratres e conventu S. Sabinae descendebant.
The wall does not contain … Although this decor does not physically support the load of the building, the effect is to visualize the weight of the building. It was built by Constantine and…was decorated with gold, mosaic, and precious marble, as much as his empire could provide.Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.Individual pages signify the copyright for the content on that page. The church was originally decorated with mosaics, but is now very plain. The Santa Sabina, a minor basilica, was started to be built in 422 AD and was completed in 432. Ptolomaei Lucensis historia ecclesiastica nova, xxii, c. 24, in In Gregorovius' History of the City of Rome In the Middle Ages, Vol V, part II, 617, note 2. The Church of Santa Sabina (chiesa di S. Sabina) on the Aventine Hill in Rome is famous for its cypress door, which may date to the early 5th century when the church was built. This central space is known as the nave, and is flanked on either side by side aisles. This area was the apse, and is where the magistrate or other senior officials would hold court. Exterior view of the apse, Basilica of Santa Sabina, c. 432 C.E., Rome. The original Constantinian buildings are now known only in plan, but an examination of a still extant early fifth century Roman basilica, the Church of Santa Sabina, helps us to understand the essential characteristics of the early Christian basilica.View down the nave toward the apse, Basilica of Santa Sabina, c. 432 C.E., RomeBasilica of Constantine (also known as the Aula Palatina), 4th century CE, Trier, Germany (photo: Like the Trier basilica, the Church of Santa Sabina has a dominant central axis that leads from the entrance to the apse, the site of the altar.