Rome - Santa Costanza

Close to the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le Mura, on the Via Nomentana, is a church with one of the most beautiful interiors of all the Roman churches - Santa Costanza, a round church erected at the beginning of the fourth century as a mausoleum for Constantine's daughter Constantia (or rather Constantina) and Helen, wife of Julian the Apostate. This little architectural masterpiece, measuring 22.5m/74ft in diameter, is simple in conception, with an unpretentious brick-built exterior, but constructed internally with costly and valuable materials (12 double columns with capitals). The mosaics depict both sacred and pagan figures, with animals playing amid vines. In the church Roman architecture, the mosaic art of late antiquity and early Christian symbols are blended into a harmonious whole.