Mausoleum of Santa Costanza

Masterpiece of the architecture of late-antiquity, created in honor of Constance or Constantina, daughter of Emperor Constantine, it was first made into a baptistery for the nearby Basilica of Sant'Agnese and then into a church in 1254. The building has a central layout, clearly drawing upon the classical models of the Pantheon, the Mausoleum of Augustus, and perhaps also the Martyrium of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem built by Constantine and Elena. The structure maintains the narthex with two apses and a splendid central hall covered by a dome supported by 12 couples of classical columns decorated with mosaics from the Fourth Century.