Santa Constanza

Maybe it's good to start with the church I like the most. It is a small mausoleum built for Constanza, daughter of emperor Constantine. Actually it was built for her younger sister Helena (the copy of her sarcophagus is there). But after Constanza's death her body was brought to Rome for a burial. It was built in the 360s or 370s, and consecrated as a church in the 13th century. The main highlight of Santa Costanza original 4th-century mosaics. Nicely displaying what was a Christian art of those time about. Still using ancient iconographic types, but the content was already Christian. It took few centuries while Christian ideas changed artistic forms. Don't forget binoculars or a good camera lens, otherwise you will not see much of these mosaics.