Mausoleum of Constantina

The Mausoleum of Constantina, commonly called Santa Costanza, is a 4th-century circular mausoleum in Rome originally built as a tomb for Constantina (also called Constantia), a daughter of Emperor Constantine. The building is one of the better-preserved late Roman centrally planned mausolea and later served as a church.

The monument’s architectural core is a large central rotunda surrounded by an ambulatory; interior decorations include early Christian mosaics and a surviving porphyry sarcophagus historically associated with imperial burials. The mosaics date from the late Roman period and illustrate early Christian and imperial themes.

Constructed in the mid-4th century, the building reflects imperial funerary architecture of the Constantinian era and was adapted for liturgical use in later centuries while retaining much of its original form and decoration.

Santa Costanza stands near the Via Nomentana in Rome, close to other early-Christian monuments and basilicas; it is accessible within the city’s network of historical sites.

• Date and identity: Built in the 4th century, it is one of Rome's surviving late-antique mausolea and is now commonly visited as the church known as Santa Costanza.

What to See #

• Rotunda and ambulatory: The central rotunda with a circular ambulatory surrounds the former burial chamber and retains early Christian mosaic decoration and a porphyry sarcophagus associated with Constantina's burial.
• Exterior drum and plan: Exterior and attached elements include a cylindrical drum and ambulatory that illustrate the 4th-century centrally planned mausoleum form later converted for liturgical use as a church.