Wednesday, January 11, 2017

PALACE OF MINERVA

PALAZZO DELLA MINERVA
1280/1330 as a convent for the Dominican friars
Rebuilt in 1559 Guidetto Guidetti (about 1498/1564) for Vincenzo Giustiniani general of the Dominicans
Expanded in 1656 by Paolo Marucelli (1594/1649)
It was a seat of the Congregazione del S. Uffizio (Congregation of the Sacred Office), which met here every week and celebrated trials including the one of Galileo Galilei in 1633
In the GALILEAN ROOM the sentence was read and it was here that he abjured his heliocentric ideas immediately after to avoid the death sentence. The famous phrase yet it moves seems not to have any historical foundation
Restructured in 1860 by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911) for Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78) who transformed it into the Pontifical College of South America
After 1870, with the adjoining BIBLIOTECA CASANATENSE (Casanatense Library) it was property of the Italian State and it became the headquarters of the Ministry of Education, of Scientific Research and Technology and of the Post Office
Today it houses offices of Members of Parliament

No comments:

Post a Comment