HELEN, Saint - St. Helen attends the discovery of the Cross. Fresco by Piero della Francesca (1452-60). Arezzo, church of S. Francesco.
in St. Peter's in Rome. Of particular iconographic and artistic importance are the cyclical representations of the legend, among which are remembered the frescoes in the church of the SS. Quattro Coronati in Rome (1253-54) and those in S. Croce in Florence (Agnolo Gaddi), for the Quattrocento the paintings in the cathedral of Albi, in S. Francesco in Arezzo (Piero della Francesca) and in S. Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome (Antoniazzo Romano); among individual scenes, following the text of the *Golden Legend*, artists prefer the miraculous resurrection of a dead man (painting by Garofalo) and the vision of the Cross during a dream of St. Helen (canvases by P. Veronese in the Vatican Pinacoteca and in the National Gallery in London).
III. MAUSOLEUM OF ST. HELEN - After her death, which occurred around 335 (O. Seeck, *Hélène*, in Pauly-Wissowa, VII, II, col. 2820), the Empress Helen was transported to the "royal city" (εἰς τὴν βασιλεύουσαν πόλιν) to be buried in the imperial tombs (ἡρῷαις βασιλικῶν ἐπισήμων): Eusebius, *Vita Constantini*, III, 47. The "royal city," according to St. John Chrysostom, is Rome (cf. St. John Chrysostom, *Contra Iudaeos et gentiles*, 9: PG 48, 825), and the imperial tombs are undoubtedly the mausoleum at "duas lauros" on the Via Labicana, whose ruins are known by the name of Tor Pignattara.
The *Liber Pontificalis* (6th century) mentions this mausoleum in connection with the construction of the Constantinian Basilica in honor of the martyrs Peter and Marcellinus on the Via Labicana (cf. ... *fecit... Constantinus... et mystileum ubi mater eius sepulta est Helena Augusta, via Lavicana mil. III*: *Lib. Pont.*, I, p. 182); the *Notitia ecclesiarum* of the 7th century describes it as a rotunda (cf. ... *et s. Helena, in sua rotonda*: G. B. De Rossi, *Roma sotterranea*, I, Rome 1864, p. 178), the *Liber de locis* (7th century) calls it a church (cf. ... *ecclesia est s. Helena ubi ipsa corpore iacet*: G. B. De Rossi, ibid., p. 178), and in the 8th century it receives the title "basilica" (cf. ... *coemeterium... iuxta basilicam beatae Helenae*: *Lib. Pont.*, I, p. 500), probably because, after the demolition of the Basilica of the two martyrs, it itself had to serve as a church.
The mausoleum was built at the third milestone of the Via Labicana, i.e., "in the center of the immense imperial latifundium of Labicum of the 4th century called Subaugusta, which extended from the church of S. Croce (Sessorianum) to Centocelle, including all the villas and gardens" (G. Tomassetti, *La campagna romana*, III, Rome 1913, p. 388). Initially, it was intended to be the tomb of the Emperor and the imperial family. But after the construction of a new mausoleum in Constantinople for the burial of Constantine, the mausoleum on the Via Labicana remained solely for the imperial family. Constantine had his mother placed in his own sarcophagus at "duas lauros." This sarcophagus, adorned with reliefs of horsemen, later served as the tomb of Anastasius IV (1153-54) in the Basilica of St. John Lateran. It is now in the Greek-cross hall of the Vatican Museums.
The construction of the mausoleum began after the victory over Maxentius (312). Indeed, in the foundations of the structure, sepulchral cippi of the *equites singulares*, the Emperor's bodyguard, were found reused; this guard had been disbanded by Constantine, who also destroyed their free burial ground in the imperial Subaugusta (P. Crostarosa, *Nuovo Bull. arch. crit.*, 3 [1897], pp. 117-22). This dating is confirmed by the brick material from the "Officina S.R.F. Domitiana," which was reproduced in 1920.
The mausoleum presents itself as a centrally planned building consisting of a rotunda preceded by a trapezoidal atrium, surrounded on three sides by a wall with attached porticoes, while on the western side a larger portico served as the entrance (A. Bosio, *Roma sotterranea*, Rome 1634, p. 323). The rotunda has an internal diameter of 20.18 m, a wall thickness of 3.78 m, and a wall height of 15.12 m. Inside, the cylindrical wall of the rotunda is articulated by architectural lines: it features four curved niches on the diagonals and three rectangular niches on the axes. The fourth rectangular niche to the west was used as the entrance. Above this niche zone, the wall reduces in thickness, a feature visible from the outside by the recessed cylindrical wall. On the exterior, eight niches with arched windows correspond to the lower internal niches. The wall of the rotunda is crowned by a cornice with brackets and surmounted by a dome built with *pignatte* (amphorae from which the popular name Tor Pignattara derives). The brickwork was plastered on the exterior and lined with marble on the interior.
Excavations carried out in 1941 on the western side of the mausoleum uncovered remains of masonry with marble incrustations and mosaics, which appear to belong to a building or courtyard corresponding to the rotunda of the mausoleum (cf. Deichmann, op. cit. in bibliography).
From an architectural standpoint, the mausoleum of St. Helen stands as a masterpiece of the late imperial period and can be compared to the other famous one of Romulus on the Via Appia. As such, it closes the series of pagan round buildings and inaugurates the history of Christian central buildings, being the prototype of the imperial mausoleum in Constantinople. — See plate XVI.