Santa Sabina

Santa Sabina. Rome, Italy. Late Antique Europe. c. 422–432 C.E. Brick and stone, wooden roof.

• EARLY CHRISTIAN CHARACTER
• CORINTHIAN COLUMNS FRAME THE ALTAR 
• CLERESTORY WINDOWS ADMIT SUNLIGHT, ILLUMINATES FRESCOES AND MOSAICS
• The wall of the nave is broken by clerestory windows that provide direct lighting in the nave. 
• The wall does not contain the traditional classical orders articulated by columns and entablatures. Now plain, the walls apparently originally were decorated with mosaics.
• Light would have been understood as a symbol of divinity. Light was a symbol for Christ. The emphasis in this architecture is on the spiritual effect and not the physical.