Basilica of Holy Hart

The Basilica of Holy Hart in the city of Vahltor is the holiest building in the Church of Hartrah, an important site for all national rituals and celebrations. It also contains thousands of memorials and remains of important national figures and the scions of wealthy families.

It is constructed on a north-south axis, with the huge domed chantry at the north end, a nave to the south, with a grand portico at its southern entrance. The chantry is the oldest and most important part of the basilica. It is a tall circular structure topped with a metal-capped dome, the largest dome in the world. Inside, the chantry has five gallery levels, each with hundreds of niches holding the bones and ashes of the most powerful and respected families in the nation. The lowest level is the most important, with the largest monuments which can be easily seen by worshippers at ground level. The upper stories are families of successively less historical importance, though any clan influential enough to have ancestors inside the Basilica are still the foremost in the land. In the centre of the ground floor is the Dais of Invocation, where the ancestors are revered and power of the God Hartrah is invoked to protect the nation.

The basilica was originally built during the Hartheran Commonwealth, as a centre for Hartheranplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigHarthera

The Hartheran Union, commonly named Harthera, is an imperialist maritime nation state dominating the northeast of Anásthias. It is one of the two great powers of the modern epoch, arguably the most technologically and militarily powerful nation in the world, only matched by the vast size and wealth of its neighbour, viridOrorrMEOrorrOrorrOrorrOrorr religion. It was built deliberately next to the royal palace, to associate religious and royal power.

The chantry was the original building, with the nave being constructed later. Large scale public worship was not originally part of the basilica's design, being originally intended primarily for ceremonies for the king and royal court. Construction of the nave began in 597 MEplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigModern Epoch (ME)

The Modern Calendar is a dating system acknowledged throughout the Civilised World. It numbers years from the Modern Epoch, abbreviated ME and BME (Before Modern Epoch). It is also called the Modern Era.

Calendar

This is in a series of articles about calendars and dating systems.OrorrHartheraHMOrorrHartheraOrorrOrorrHMHartheraHMHartheraOrorr and was completed in 611, with a grand southern portico being added in the 9th century.