Early Christian

The Early Christian period lasted from 330-800 CE. 300 years after the death of Jesus Christ, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Christ died in ancient Judea and that was the beginning of Christianity. Rome tolerated most religions but to them Christianity posed a threat. Although they were prosecuted, Christianity prospered. Before Christianity was legal, those who followed the religion had to practice in hiding. Due to this hiding, there are not many Early Christian examples of architecture or furniture. People practiced within their homes or in the Catacombs. in 313 CE Emperor Constantine validated Christianity as a religion and the Christians came out of hiding. Now they needed real places of worship so they started constructing churches. They adopted the Basilica style church at first which was very linear which included an narthex and the beginning, a nave in the middle and an apse at the end. Soon after that, transepts were added to either side to make the building look more like a cross. As time went of they decided to start building more centralized churches. The furniture examples of this time period are few and in between. The throne, stool, and storage were important pieces. There was much decoration in the churches with paintings of Christ and his followers. There were many motifs of the cross, dove, and fish.

Early examples:

Old St. Peters Cathedral

Sant'Apollinare In Classe

Chest for storage

Modern implications

Barcelona stool

Clive Christian kitchen

Modern Basilica style church:Notre-Dame de la Trinité, located in Blois, France

Peer Review

Cally: I liked how she went into detail about the building with the types, orientation, floor plans, etc. Her pictures were also very good examples.

Paige S: I liked how she had an overview of the time period and went into more detail with her picture examples and really explained them and why they are important.