www.quondam.com/30/2910.htm

hotrod architecture
2005.05.24 15:22

Christian churches have a long history, don't they? We don't really know what the Christian church across from the palace at Nicomedia that was burned during the Great Persecution under Diocletian looked like, but we do know the ritual that accompanied the rededication of the church at Tyre, which was also desecrated during the Great Persecution. And then almost immediately following we have the original "Constantinian" basilicas, first the basilica building boom in Rome late 312-326 under the supervision of Helena, then the basilica building boom in the Holy Land, also under the supervision of Helena, [and, believe it or not, the basilica building boom at Treves, today's Trier, Germany, under the supervision of Eutropia and Constantine fits right here in this [his]story too,] and ultimately the building boom of a whole new Christian capital of the Roman Empire at Constantinople under the supervision of Constantine himself.

It is these early Christian basilicas that have then been reenacted in multitudinous ways (and yes, even some hot rodded) over the subsequent centuries. My favorite most recent reenactment of a "basilica" is the Out of the Ordinary exhibition design at the Philadelphia Museum of Art 2001. It even had a hot rodded sanctuary! (At least that's where the bang specifically was.)

Last night it dawned on me that the Out of the Ordinary exhibition design also reenacted the museum floor "design" directly above it. "When in Rome," I suppose.

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