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Some Churches of Rome A selection compiled after Dom P's first "serious photographic visit" to Rome in 2005
Links to all Rome Church pages in Paradoxplace
Back to Paradoxplace Rome Galleries Rome Restaurants and Hotels Guides and Books about Rome
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San Pietro in Vaticano - May Day 2005
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A wave from new Pope Benedict XVI at his first balcony appearance on May Day 2005, and we're off ...... |
This is a much earlier (church builder) Pope - Saint Paschal I (817 - 824) in the apse of the Basilica of Santa Prassede, nearly next door to Santa Maria Maggiore. The square halo denotes a living person - not quite sure about the logic of that .....
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Links to all the Paradoxplace Rome Church Pages A sample of the art in Roman Churches
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Pope Innocent II (whose tomb was transferred here after fire gutted the Lateran Palace) ordered the building of the present Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in the mid 1100s. Below is the basilica's Apse mosaic.
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The Cosmati Brothers' workshops developed a distinctive floor decoration during the 11, 12 and 13 hundreds. Cosmati floors are to be found in many old Roman and Lazio churches. This one is in Santa Maria in Trastevere. |
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The triumphal arch bases of some of the really old churches have mosaic representations of biblical cities. Top left San Clemente, top right and below Santa Maria Maggiore (far and away our favourite Major Basilica), and right Santa Prassede. |
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Ring a bell?? This 800s fresco of the Virgin and Child in one of the lower (=earlier) levels of San Clemente, is thought now to be a makeover of a portrait of our old friend the Exotic Dancer and Byzantine Empress Theodora, Justinian's wife. Originally she would have been standing and without child (compare the mosaic of her below in S Vitale in Ravenna).
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Later on in time and next door to the Pantheon, the Dominican Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is known as Rome's only gothic church. Santa Caterina di Siena is under the altar, the Sangallo designed tombs of the two Medici cousins who were Popes - Leo X and Clement VII - are the large marble structures which face each other across the apse, whilst the beautiful Michelangelo statue of Jesus and the cross, and the tomb of Fra Angelico (both shown below) lie just to the north. It's a big space - what you can see in the photo is only the east half of the nave!
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The photo above of a spandrel sculpture in the cloisters of San Paolo fuori le Mura comes from an outstanding coffee table book called "Cloisters of Europe" which is presently out of print, but can be obtained on the second hand book market at very reasonable prices.
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The beauty of the cloisters of San Paolo fuori le Mura (above and below left) contrasts strongly with the grim and totally unspiritual grandeur of the Basilica next door - an 1800s rebuild after a fire.
Back in town, below right is the tomb of the Sienese Pope Pius II (Piccolomini) in Sant'Andrea della Valle - the church better known as the setting for Act I of Tosca.
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By contrast, another Fuori le Mura (outside the walls) church - San Lorenzo - is well worth the subway journey and lengthy walk through the indifferent architecture of the University. |
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All original material on this site © Adrian Fletcher 2000-08 - The contents may not be hotlinked, or reproduced without permission |
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