page_title: Basilica
section_title: Catholic Basilicas
hierarchical_section_title: Basilica / Catholic Basilicas
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Peter's Basilica in Rome seen from the roof of Castel Sant'Angelo. Deutsch: Petersdom in Rom, gesehen vom Dach der Engelsburg
context_page_description: In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name to the architectural form of the basilica.
  Originally, a basilica was an ancient Roman public building, where courts were held, as well as serving other official and public functions. Basilicas are typically rectangular buildings with a central nave flanked by two or more longitudinal aisles, with the roof at two levels, being higher in the centre over the nave to admit a clerestory and lower over the side-aisles. An apse at one end, or less frequently at both ends or on the side, usually contained the raised tribunal occupied by the Roman magistrates. The basilica was centrally located in every Roman town, usually adjacent to the forum and often opposite a temple in imperial-era forums. Basilicas were also built in private residences and imperial palaces and were known as "palace basilicas".
  In late antiquity, church buildings were typically constructed either as martyria, or with a basilica's architectural plan.
context_section_description: In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a large and important church building. This designation may be made by the Pope or may date from time immemorial. Basilica churches are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building does not need to be a basilica in the architectural sense. Basilicas are either major basilicas – of which there are four, all in the diocese of Rome — or minor basilicas, of which there were 1,810 worldwide as of 2019.
caption: St Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, a major basilica of the Catholic Church, is a central-plan building, enlarged by a basilical nave
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