Christianity and the Preservation of Ancient Rome

Over the space of this trip, we have seen several buildings and places that have been preserved as well as they have because of Christianity. In one of my first blog posts, I talked about how the Romans tend to reuse and repurpose buildings instead of tearing them down and building new ones. This is good news for history buffs because often the use of the building by Christians ensures better preservation.

One example of buildings that have been repurposed by Christianity include old Roman temples. San Nicola in Carcere was one of the first temples we saw that is currently used as a church. In many buildings like this one, you can see parts of the old temple. In the case of San Nicola in Carcere, you can easily see the old columns on the outside walls from its time as a temple. It's interesting that this former temple is now used as a church; its purpose, for religious rituals, is still the same, but the religion has changed.

The inside of San Nicola in Carcere. The columns from its time as a Roman temple still stand inside the church today.

On the outside of San Nicola in Carcere, you can easily see how the walls of the church were built around the ancient columns.

The other day we visited the Pantheon, which is still in a remarkable state of preservation. It is probably one of the best preserved buildings from ancient Roman times. Nowadays, like San Nicola in Carcere, the Pantheon is the home of a church.

The outside of the Pantheon, which is now used as a church where mass is held.

Today we visited the Basilica of Saint Clement, which is built over a Mithraic temple. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures, so I have one from good old Google. We got to visit the old lower level of the building and see the paintings on the walls. On some of them it was clear where the building of the church above started because the top parts of the paintings were cut off.

The inside of the Basilica of Saint Clement looks much different from the remains of the Mithraic temple beneath it. It's also less damp and smelly.

Christianity is not something that comes to my mind when I think about the ancient Roman Empire. However, by visiting these ancient temples, it's clear to see that the religion had some significance in the preservation of ancient Roman buildings so that we can still study and visit them in part today.