Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/87

X. Early Christian Architecture. To find the first traces of Christian architecture we must turn to the Catacombs — the narrow, winding, gloomy network of passages, hollowed out of the soft and easily- worked rock in the vicinity of Rome, in which the early Christians met for worship and buried their dead. These Catacombs are also called crypts, or cemeteries, and consist of long, low galleries, much resembling mines. The graves are hollowed out of tire sides of the galleries, and are so low and small as to look scarcely capable of holding a body. The entrance to the grave is built up with stones, on which are often inscribed the letters D.M. (Deo Maximo), or XP, the first two letters of the Greek name of Christ (Xpioros). For a saint, or a martyr, a larger tomb would be hollowed out, the walls of which were adorned with unpretending frescoes. Here and there the galleries expand into spacious and lofty vaulted chambers, containing several niches, the walls and ceilings being adorned with painting. These chambers were evidently intended for the service of the Church, and in some respects still resemble sacred Christian buildings. The Catacombs of the Via Appia, near Rome, are the most celebrated of any which have yet been discovered. These crude and inartistic attempts at architecture date from the first century of our era. It was not until the time of Constantine that the persecuted and scattered Christians abandoned these gloomy refuges, and found themselves in a position to erect places of worship worthy of the creed they professed. Under Constantine the power of Paganism waned, and Christianity received recognition