Editing St. Peter's Basilica (section)

===Old St. Peter's Basilica===
[[File:Maarten van Heemskerck - Santa Maria della Febbre, Vatican Obelisk, Saint Peter's Basilica in construction (1532).jpg|thumb|right|Maarten van Heemskerck – Santa Maria della Febbre, Vatican Obelisk, Saint Peter's Basilica in construction (1532)]]

[[File:Old St Peter's Basilica, Rome, about the year 1450 restored from ancient authorities.jpg|thumb|right|A conjectural view of the [[Old St. Peter's Basilica]] by H. W. Brewer, 1891|alt=A black and white engraving of a bird's-eye view of a very large cruciform church. There is a large enclosed forecourt which is fronted by buildings of different dates and styles. There is a tall bell tower and many surrounding structures. A label to the bottom left of the image gives the artist's name and original caption.]]
{{Main|Old St. Peter's Basilica}}

Old St. Peter's Basilica was the fourth-century church begun by the [[Emperor]] [[Constantine the Great]] between 319 and 333 AD.<ref name="Cultures and Values">{{citation|last=Cunningham |first=Lawrence |title=Cultures and Values |year=2010 |publisher=Clark Baxter |location=US |page=671}}</ref> It was of typical basilical form, a wide nave and two aisles on each side and an apsidal end, with the addition of a [[transept]] or [[bema]], giving the building the shape of a [[tau cross]]. It was over {{convert|103.6|m|ft}} long, and the entrance was preceded by a large colonnaded [[Atrium (architecture)|atrium]]. This church had been built over the small shrine believed to mark the burial place of [[Saint Peter|St. Peter]], though [[Arab raid against Rome|the tomb was "smashed" in 846 AD]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Peter Partner |title=The Lands of St. Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance, Volume 10 |date=1972 |publisher=University of California Press |page=57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bZ6eJuZfTAEC&q=saint+peter+rome+846+desecrating&pg=PA57 |access-date=6 April 2019 |quote=excavation has revealed that the tomb of the apostle was wantonly smashed |isbn=9780520021815 |archive-date=22 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222140056/https://books.google.com/books?id=bZ6eJuZfTAEC&q=saint+peter+rome+846+desecrating&pg=PA57#v=onepage&q=saint%20peter%20rome%20846%20desecrating&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> It contained a very large number of burials and memorials, including those of most of the popes from St. Peter to the 15th century. Like all of the earliest churches in Rome, both this church and its successor had the entrance to the east and the apse at the west end of the building.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dietz |first=Helen |year=2005 |title=The Eschatological Dimension of Church Architecture |journal=Sacred Architecture Journal |volume=10 |url=http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/articles/the_eschatological_dimension_of_church_architecture/ |access-date=10 July 2008 |archive-date=9 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709165515/http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/articles/the_eschatological_dimension_of_church_architecture |url-status=live }}</ref> Since the construction of the current basilica, the name ''Old St. Peter's Basilica'' has been used for its predecessor to distinguish the two buildings.<ref name=met>{{cite journal |last=Boorsch |first=Suzanne |date=Winter 1982–1983 |title=The Building of the Vatican: The Papacy and Architecture |journal=The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=4–8}}</ref>