Interior view

Between c. 380 and c. 440 numerous Christian basilicas were erected in Rome: Santi Giovanni e Paolo (c. 410), San Vitale (416), Santa Sabina (422–32), San Pietro in Vincoli (c. 442), and many more. These buildings had a standard plan, with a nave flanked by aisles, an apse, and an atrium or narthex. They were built largely of spolia and some were decorated with mosaics and marble inlay. Their construction was financed by the pope and by wealthy priests or members of the laity. Some secular halls were also transformed into churches, as for example Santa Pudenziana (c. 390), while several of the old domus ecclesiae continued to function. These ecclesiastical buildings (tituli) were spread fairly evenly over the city, to serve the needs of the population.

The Basilica of Saint Sabina is a historical church on the Aventine Hill in Rome. It is the oldest extant Roman basilica in Rome that preserves its original colonnaded rectangular plan and architectural style. Its decorations have been restored to their original restrained design.

In the interior, the tall, spacious nave has twenty four columns of Proconnesian marble with perfectly matched Corinthian capitals and bases, which were reused from the Temple of Juno. The original fifth-century apse mosaic was replaced in 1559 by a very similar fresco by Taddeo Zuccari. The composition probably remained unchanged: Christ is flanked by a good thief and a bad thief, seated on a hill while lambs drink from a stream at its base.

The wooden door of the basilica is the original door from 430–432, although probably it was not constructed for this doorway. Eighteen of its wooden panels survive — all but one depicting scenes from the Bible.

View the ground plan of the building.