The ancient buildings of Rome still form an important element of the well-known cityscape and serve as architectural testimonies of a three thousand year old and in many respects unique city history. However, these significant buildings have not remained untouched in the centuries since their construction and can therefore no longer be admired today in their originally designed form. Rather, they were constantly developed architecturally and thus completely or partially converted, extended or dismantled in a variety of ways.

A particular example of this tradition of conversion is the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda, which was built into the ancient temple of Antonius Pius and Faustina on the Roman Forum. Here, a memorial building dedicated to a divinized emperor and empress was first converted into an early Christian church around 800 and then into a Counter-Reformation pilastered church around 1600: A significant development that can be observed in many other examples with different facets and can be called sacral conversion.

In addition to studying the aforementioned example, the research field will aim to research and analyze other examples and document them in the form of drawings, building descriptions, and reconstructions.