Articles (Architecture)

Located in present-day Bulgaria, approximately 50 kilometres from the capital city of Sofia, the mountain pass known as the Gate of Trajan (Bulgarian: Траянови врата) formed part of the Via Militaris, a Roman road constructed in the 1st century CE that connected the provinces of Thrace and Moesia Superior, and later linked the territories of the Eastern Roman Empire with the lands beyond its borders, commonly referred to as Barbaricum.

When visiting historic Latin churches from different eras, one can get the impression that they are all similar in some way. Such similarities include the plan of the Latin cross and the division into naves. When we follow the trail of sacral architecture, from today to antiquity, we will notice that the above-mentioned similarities come from early Christian art, and these, in turn, were taken over from pagan times, from civil and not sacral construction. Why, then, do our churches refer to the heritage of the basilica building, and not to Greek, Etruscan and Roman temples modelled on them?

Romans left behind many buildings – amphitheatres, roads, aqueducts, temples and forums. Is that all? It turns out not; the walls, and in particular the Aurelian Wall, is an example of the pragmatism, ingenuity and genius of Roman engineers. About 19 kilometres long, with hundreds of towers, thirteen gates and over a hundred latrines – these are just a few numbers behind which there is an extremely interesting history of the city and the empire.

Great architectural and engineering achievements of ancient Rome, like roads, aqueducts, the use of concrete and the invention of a dome, were preceded by centuries of the architectural development of ancient Greece. The Greek builders implemented numerous innovative solutions, which were then taken over and further developed by the Romans. Many of those were intended for the optical correction of buildings, which would look completely different without the use of these nearly invisible modifications.

Probably everyone knows or has seen in many films how Rome enjoyed all kinds of shows and performances such as chariot races, gladiator fights, animal fights, and staging of famous battles (especially those where the Romans won). They took place in specially designed buildings called circuses from the Latin circus – circumference or circle.

At first, the Acropolis in Athens is associated mainly with monuments from the times of ancient Greece. But in the Roman period, in the years 114-116 CE, a tombstone monument to Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappus was built. The monument with an interesting background, because the inscriptions on it are written in both Greek and Latin. Both have different messages.