Basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore, Milan

Basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore is a Roman Catholic church whose surviving form still preserves the bold geometry of a late-imperial building. Its plan was made between 390 and 410, and the church was among the largest centrally planned buildings in the Western world at the time. The architect associated with the basilica is Martino Bassi.

Look at the broad circular arrangement of the exterior and the adjoining Colonne di San Lorenzo: together they recall a complex that began in Roman Milan. Inside, the space is organized around a square with four apses, while a surrounding ambulatory creates a layered, almost theatrical rhythm. This is architettura paleocristiana, and the basilica is among Milan’s oldest churches.

Its history is anything but calm. Fires damaged it in 1071 and 1075; the dome fell in 1103, and another fire in 1124 destroyed the dome again along with part of the building. A later dome was begun after the collapse of 5 June 1573 and completed in 1619. The church is dedicated to San Lorenzo, and its unusual design offers a rare glimpse of the great imperial churches that once stood in Byzantium.