So in that sense,
again, one foot in the pagan past.
It looks back to basilicas of an earlier date, be they the
one in Domitian's Palace, or or, or the Forum of Trajan in Rome.
But there are some differences here.
One of them is the fact that you can see there are no columns inside the cella.
That's interesting, and it is in keeping
with the tetrarchic aesthetic that we've already described,
for the chorea, for example, with that box-like a box-like open space, inside,
without any columnar decoration at all. No columns in here.
Stark, geometric, abstract in the tetrarchic manner.
But they have placed columns on the outside of the basilica in
a kind of courtyard on either side of columns that you can see here.
Which is a
very interesting and unusual and in fact unique approach.
You can also see there's a transverse corridor over here.
And that - a transverse -a vestibule, transverse vestibule, entrance vestibule.
Which is unusual, and which we don't
see in Roman, in typical Roman Basilican architecture.
We call that an narthex, and this addition
of the narthex here, this, this transverse vestibule is interesting because it is
going to become the basis for most
church architecture, both from the time, Basilican
church architecture, in the time of
Constantine, because Constantine does found old, it
does build Old St. Peters and other churches in Rome, and others follow suit.
So this, those, so again, one foot in the pagan past, one in the Christian future.
On the left-hand side of the screen, the restored view of the exterior, it shows
not only those low-lying columnar courtyards, but
also that there were railings on two stories.
It does show you as well, that the building is made out of solid brick.
It does show you as well, the rounded
windows, the arched windows which we have seen.
The round topped windows which we have
seen have become customary for tetrarchic architecture.
As well as a very interesting use of, projecting elements that are very simple.
They look almost like pilasters but they're not pilasters.
They're a simplified, abstract version of pilasters.
So this, this paring down of the elements
that is so consistent with the tetrarchic ethos.
Here's the view of the Aula Palatina as it looks today.
Again, it is extremely well preserved, as you
can see.
But it does, no longer has its outer courtyard, and
it no longer has its railings but the rest is there.
You can see these wonderful round headed windows and how large they are.
We've talked about the ability of architects
to dematerialize the wall at this point in
time and the way in which they have opened it up with very large windows.
And you can see what I was describing just before, these molded elements
that project out into our space, they, they kind of look like they're made to,
conjure up pilasters, but they don't have
any capitals and they don't have any bases.
They're, in my mind, a kind of abstract version of what, of a pilaster, and
they're very effective, I think, in terms
of the, aesthetic appeal of this particular building.
Diana E.E. KleinerDunham Professor of History of Art and Classics at Yale University
