The
Churches of Rome
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Trastevere
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Santa
Maria in Trastevere
Trastevere,
350, 1140, 19th cent.
Santa
Maria in Trastevere may have originally been founded as early as the
3rd century by Pope Callixtus (217-22), but it was probably built
around 350 AD under Pope Julius I (337-52). In this early period the
church was known as titulus Callisti. It was partially destroyed by
fire during the sack of Rome in 410, then repaired and rededicated to
the Virgin Mary by Pope Celestine (422-32).
The church was totally rebuilt in the 12th century by Pope Innocent II (1130-43), using materials from the ancient Baths of Caracalla. Most of the present building dates from this era, with the portico and some other remodelling from the 19th century
The heavily restored mosaics in the apse vault and triumphal arch date from around 1140.
The present church dedicated to the patroness of music (very convoluted hagiography) was built over the ruins of Cecilia's house by Pope Paschal I (817-24). The apse above the choir is decorated with a fine 9th-century mosaic on the theme of the Second Coming, which is quite similar to the one at Santa Prassede. It consists of seven standing figures. Recent restaurations.
The Interior
The restored apse mosaic (9th cent)
The left aisle near the entrance contains the sacristy, which serves as the entrance to the excavations beneath the church. Down here are the ruins of two ancient Roman houses, with mosaic pavements, Early Christian sarcophagi and a small museum. Eight cylindrical towers are believed to be part of a tannery, and there is a pagan household shrine with a relief of Minerva.
The first building was apparently a chapel built in the eighth century , and certainly goes back to the eleventh century. The bell (the smallest in Rome), is dated 1069.
The restoration was completed in 2007 cleaning up the interior of the eighteenth-century deposits, restoring sight to the medieval walls and some very interesting frescoes, and enhancing the remains of the beautiful ornamentation of the Cosmati floor. The restoration has made it clear that separation of the church entrance was a later change. You now enter the chapel directly.
Bramante's Tempietto in the Spanish Convent of San Pietro di Montorio
With all the transformations of Renaissance and Baroque Rome that
were to follow, it is hard to sense now what an apparition this
building was in beginning of the 16th century. It is almost a piece
of sculpture, for it has little architectonic use. The building
absorbed much of Brunelleschi's style. Perfectly proportioned, it is
composed of 16 slender Tuscan columns, a Doric entablature modeled
after the ancient Theater of Marcellus, and a dome. According to an
engraving in Sebastiano Serlio's Book III, Bramante planned to set it
in within a colonnaded courtyard, but that plan was never
executed.
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