Santa Maria in Cosmedin

General Requirements

• 47 pages, based on how many diagrams, images, etc.
  • Be sure that the entire paper is not simply images, you must still do enough analysis
• Doublespaced, 12 pt. font, 1” margins, etc.
• Use Chicago Manual (footnotes), MLA, or APA for citations
• Minimum of three scholarly sources (Wikipedia does NOT count…)
• Include any images (floor plans, architectural diagrams, images of notable features, etc.) that are significant be sure to cite those images

Questions to answer

• Basic information (to answer in some order):  should include, but is not limited to:
  • Who built the church?
  • What does it look like?
  • When was it built?
  • Where is it in Rome?
  • Why was it built there?  Why was it built at all?
  • Did anybody do any renovations to it?
  • Was it ever damaged by sacks, fire, etc.?
• These questions should help you create a short, basic history of your church from its foundation until roughly the year 900

Other questions

• Thinking about the floor plan of your church
  • Based on what we’ve talked about, how does this show the use of “space”?
  • Are there any architectural features that are especially important in this church?  If so, what are they?  If not, is that significant?
  • How does the church show an attempt to enhance the power of the person who built it, the saint that might be buried in it, etc.?
• You answered in a basic way above where the church is in the city, but now dig a little more into that:
  • Where is the church in relation to other important places in the city? 
  • Is it a major church in the city?  Does it seem to be fairly unimportant?
  • Where is it in relation to the ancient parts of the city?  How did it interact with those parts of the city?
  • How does the church fit into the religious life of the city?  Is it on a processional route, does it host mass on special days, etc.?
• The basic purpose of this section is to relate your church back to the broader themes of the class