Mausoleum of Santa Costanza historical timeline

Last updated on October 5, 2026

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An emperor's daughter built herself a round tomb beside a martyr's church; its vintage mosaics got it mistaken for a temple of Bacchus, and a society of Dutch painters drank in it for a century.

Chronology

Beginning of the 4th century — the Mausoleum is erected by Costantina, or Costanza, daughter of the Emperor Constantine, close against the great cemeterial basilica she had had built at the underground cemetery, burial place of the martyr Agnes.
4th century — the mosaics of the corridor vault are made: geometric motifs, fruit, flowers, peacocks, doves and grape-harvest scenes, among the oldest monumental Christian mosaics surviving in Rome.
16th century — the Mausoleum is studied and drawn by Antonio da Sangallo and Vignola, whose sketches bear witness to decorations now vanished.
17th century — the mausoleum is the meeting place of the Bent-vogels, an association of Dutch and Flemish artists, whose baptism parties ended with a toast before the porphyry sarcophagus and could last three days and three nights.
1623–1644 — Pope Urban VIII has the dome mosaics removed, as they were seriously damaged.
1720 — Pope Clement XI forbids the Bent-vogels' custom because it profaned the ancient mausoleum. Some of their names, carved in niches of the ambulatory, can still be read today.
18th century — Piranesi also draws the building.
1775 — in the account of his journey to Rome, the marquis de Sade relates that Pope Julius II had wished to be buried in the ancient Mausoleum.

Verified against Turismo Roma, October 2026.

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Checked against Turismo Roma — Turismo Roma records that the Mausoleum was erected at the beginning of the 4th century by Costantina, or Costanza, daughter of Constantine, close against the great cemeterial basilica she had had built at the underground cemetery which was the burial place of the martyr Agnes, and that it is an example of the integration between mausoleum and basilica in the Constantinian age; and that its entrance is preceded by a narthex with two apses at the sides acting as the link with the great cemeterial basilica, as in the Mausoleum of Helena, mother of Constantine, built against the Constantinian basilica of Saints Marcellinus and Peter on the via Labicana, today via Casilina, Turismo Roma records that the most innovative characteristic of the Mausoleum of Santa Costanza consists of the two concentric circular spaces, which derive from Roman models of temples, mausolea and nymphaea such as the Pantheon and the Mausoleum of Augustus, and in particular from the Martyrium of the Holy Sepulchre erected in Jerusalem by Constantine and his mother Helena, a building destined to influence a great part of medieval architecture, Turismo Roma records that the interior, consisting of a circular corridor covered by a barrel vault and a central space, is surmounted by a dome of 22.50 m in diameter bounded by twelve pairs of granite columns taken from an earlier building of the Roman period; that the interior of the dome was covered with mosaics, later removed on the orders of Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644) because they were seriously damaged; that 12 arched windows light the central part of the Mausoleum, giving it considerable charm; and that on the walls are rectangular and semicircular niches, with a copy of Costanza's red porphyry sarcophagus in the end niche, the original being today preserved in the Vatican Museums, Turismo Roma records that the very beautiful mosaics on the vault of the corridor, going back to the 4th century, depict geometric motifs, naturalistic scenes with fruit, flowers, peacocks and doves, and grape-harvest scenes; that as a typical case of the adaptation of pagan themes to the Christian tradition they long caused the mausoleum to be identified with a temple of Bacchus; that the mosaics of Santa Costanza are among the oldest monumental Christian mosaics surviving in Rome and an extraordinary example of the late Roman artistic inheritance from which early Christian art originated; and that other mosaics are in the niches, representing the handing of the keys to Saint Peter and the handing of the law to Saints Peter and Paul, while at the sides of the entrance Costanza and her husband Hannibalianus are portrayed, Turismo Roma records that during the seventeenth century the mausoleum was the meeting place of a bizarre association of Dutch and Flemish artists called the Bent-vogels, birds of the band; that every time the group gained a new member a baptism party was celebrated with abundant libations in an osteria on the via Nomentana; that after the night of revelry the Bent-vogels went to the temple of Bacchus and made a last solemn toast in front of the porphyry sarcophagus, held to be the tomb of the god; that the celebrations could last up to three days and three nights; that in 1720 Pope Clement XI forbade this custom because it profaned the ancient mausoleum; and that the names of some of these Bent-vogels, carved in some niches of the ambulatory, can still be read today, Turismo Roma records that the Mausoleum has been studied and drawn by many artists including Antonio da Sangallo, Vignola and Piranesi, whose sketches bear witness to the existence of decorations now vanished; and that in the account of his journey to Rome in 1775 the marquis de Sade relates that Pope Julius II had wished to be buried in the ancient Mausoleum, writing that it is probably a pleasure for the old pope to imagine his body in the place where a virgin reposed (October 2026).

Mausoleum of Santa Costanza historical timeline

Chronology

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