Page 233 - DK Eyewitness Travel Guides - The World's Must-See Places

In ancient Rome, a basilica was a public
building supported internally by double
colonnades and with a semicircular apse at
one end. Later, the Catholic Church began
to use the the term as a title of honor for
important churches, especially those of great
age, or an association with a saint The title
gives a church special privileges, principally
the right to reserve its high altar for the pope.