PALACE OF THE FOLLOWERS OF St. PHILIP NERI

PALAZZO DEI FILIPPINI

Piazza della Chiesa Nuova

Construction begun in 1621 on the site of the destroyed church of St. Cecilia

1637/43 by the brilliant Francesco Borromini (1599/1667) with Paolo Marucelli (1594/1649), who later quit, for the Congregation of St. Philip Neri (1515/95)

“At the request of the congregation, the façade was not covered in stone, so that it was not in competition with the nearby church. Borromini therefore developed a new and extremely subtle technique that allowed the finer graduations and an absolute precision of detail” (Rudolf Wittkower)

“The main façade, originally facing a measured triangular piazza, arises from afar as a replica of the façade of the church built by Rughesi. But as one approaches it, the analogy turns out to be false appearance and the attempt (...) to distinguish hierarchically the oratory from the church, making it less ornate, turns out to be totally frustrated by an extraordinary density and intensity of images that immediately makes Borromini's building the real star of the surrounding space” (Paolo Portoghesi)

1650/56 wings toward Via di Monte Giordano and Via della Chiesa Nuova by Camillo Arcucci (active from 1646/d. 1667)

ORATORY (or Sala Borromini)

1637/40 by Francesco Borromini

It was here that the musical form known as Oratorio (an opera with a sacred theme, little action and limited drama) which was adopted by the congregation of St. Philip Neri as a liturgical instrument

At the center of the stucco decoration of the vault “Divine Wisdom” 1788 by Pietro Angeletti (about 1737/98)

Altar “St. Cecilia and St. Philip Neri in contemplation of the Madonna in Glory” in 1665 by the Sienese Raffaello Vanni (1587/1673)

REFECTORY with two marble washstand by Borromini

“Borromini conceived the distribution of the various rooms based on the already tested functionality criteria and representative consistency: there is in fact, says Paolo Portoghesi, a courtly tone in communal areas and a resigned and friendly one in the rooms for the private residence” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

CLOCK TOWER

1647/49 by Francesco Borromini

Aedicula below the clock in mosaic 1657 maybe by Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)

“The urban layout, as background of Via dei Banchi (Benches Street), a road that was familiar to him, because it was where Carlo Maderno lived, suggested the idea of ​​a tower, designed to accommodate a large public clock. Vertical volume of the tower is continuity in the facade below to display the powerful vertical bands which provide a first grand rhythm of partitions. Borromini within this frame designs mirrors repeated grouping using different elements and, on the effect of mild graduated shots surface, set the silver chiaroscuro bending the system of the Mannerist order in swaddling clothes, laid in front of the Collegio Romano, a new rhythmic combinations” (Paolo Portoghesi)

ROMAN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINES LIBRARY

COLLECTION OF ROMAN NEWSPAPERS

HISTORICAL CAPITOLINE ARCHIVE

“Miracle of St. Agnes” in stucco by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654)

ROMAN LIBRARY

“Encounter of S. Leo the Great with Attila” 1648 in stucco by Alessandro Algardi, model in actual size of the masterpiece in the Chapel of the Column of the Basilica of St. Peter

VALLICELLIANA LIBRARY

The oldest olibrary pen to the public in Rome with 118,000 volumes and 2500 manuscripts

Hall dating back to the years 1642/44 by Francesco Borromini

“Divine Wisdom surrounded by stars and emblems of the Doctors of the Church” by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610/62) from Viterbo, a pupil of Pietro da Cortona

ROMAN SOCIETY OF ITALIAN HISTORY

ORATORY OF St. MARY OF GOOD HELP

ORATORIO DI S. MARIA E DEL BUON AIUTO

Piazza di S. Croce in Gerusalemme/Via Nola

1476 for Pope Sixtus IV Della Rovere (1471/84)

According to tradition, Sixtus IV found refuge from a raging storm in a shrine with an image of the Virgin Mary

Once the danger was over he ordered that a church would be dedicated to that image with the title of Buon Aiuto (Good Help)

Fresco detached from the original shrine “Madonna with Child” maybe by Antonio Aquili aka Antoniazzo Romano (about 1435-40/1508)

ORATORY OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT AND THE FIVE WOUNDS

ORATORIO DEL SS. SACRAMENTO E DELLE CINQUE PIAGHE

Via dei Baullari 144

Beginning of 1600 for the Arciconfraternita del SS. Sacramento (Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament) founded in 1501 by four faithful men and a priest at S. Lorenzo in Damaso to spread the cult of the Sacrament and to accompany the Viaticum that was brought to the dying

It was restored and renovated in 1863 by Luigi Tedeschi who also reversed the orientation of the building

Now it is home to the Scout Group Opera Regina Apostolorum

ORATORY OF THE MOST HOLY CRUCIFIX

ORATORIO DEL SS. CROCIFISSO

Piazza dell'Oratorio 70

1562/69 Giacomo Della Porta (1533/1602) and Giovanni Lippi aka Nanni di Baccio Bigio (about 1513/68) under the patronage of Tommaso Cavalieri (the great love of Michelangelo) for the Confraternita del SS. Crocifisso (Confraternity of the Most Holy Crucifix)

The Confraternity was protected by Cardinal Ranuccio Farnese (after his death in 1565 his brother Cardinal Alessandro Farnese succeeded as protector) and had duties of devotion for the fifteenth century wooden Crucifix kept in the church of S. Marcello al Corso

The Crucifix was believed to be miraculous since it escaped in 1519 the fire that destroyed the church of S. Marcello al Corso and after that the plague ceased in 1522 due to its presence in a procession

Since then, a procession used to move on the evening of every Holy Thursday from here to St. Peter's Basilica

CEILING 1879 with painting in the center “Triumph of the Cross” by Giovanni Gagliardi (1838/1924) grandson of Pietro Gagliardi

The original ceiling of 1584 by Flaminio Boulanger was destroyed in 1798

Decorative scheme on the walls made from 1578 to about 1584 and designed by Tommaso Cavalieri (1509/87) and Girolamo Muziano (1532/92) with a theme derived from the medieval text of the thirteenth century by the Dominican friar Jacopo da Voragine (or Varazze) “Legend of the True Cross”, a real tour de force of unlikely fantasies

According to the story, the wood of the Cross of Christ was already predestined by the time that Adam's son Seth had put into his mouth, on his deathbed, three seeds that would eventually spawn a large tree

After many centuries, the tree was cut by Solomon to build the Temple in Jerusalem but the wood did not seem compatible with the Temple and it was used for a footbridge over a river. When the Queen of Sheba passed over the bridge had the premonition that the Savior of mankind would have been crucified in the wood and knelt in adoration

The story continues with the battle of Milvian Bridge between Constantine and Maxentius, and the journey of St. Helena, mother of Constantine, in search of the True Cross

St. Helena found a person who knew where it was buried, and to force him to talk, she had him lowered into a pit without bread and water for seven days

She so convinced the reluctant person to talk and she was able to find the three different crosses used on the day of Christ's death. To identify the one on which he died, St. Helena touched with the wood a dead man and he miraculously resurrected

Another chapter is the duel between Heraclius, Byzantine emperor, and Chosroes II, the Persian king

After Heraclius defeated the army of Chosroes in the battle of the Danube in 615 AD, he invited him to be converted and baptized. Chosroes refused and Heraclius drew his sword and cut off his head

Thus Heraclius obtained the restitution of the Cross that was returned to Jerusalem

Compared to the previously built Oratories of S. Giovanni Decollato and of the Gonfalon, the story loses its epic and dramatic dimension and gets a more serene and discursive tone, of wider popular appeal, certainly more consonant with the dictates of the recently completed Council of Trent (1545/63)

COUNTER FAÇADE

Beautiful 1744 organ by the Tyrolean master Giovanni Corrado Verlè

Frescoes with “Stories of the brotherhood”:

On the right

“The Crucifix remains intact in the fire of S. Marcello” and “Foundation of the convent of the Capuchin on Quirinal Hill” by Niccolò Circignani aka Pomarancio (about 1520/98) who succeeded in 1582 to Giovanni De Vecchi (about 1537/1615)

On the left

“Procession of the Black Plague of 1522” by Paris Nogari (about 1536/1601)

“Approval of the statutes of the brotherhood” by Baldassare Croce (about 1553/1628)

WALLS

Story of the Legend of the True Cross beginning from the right of the altar in clockwise direction:

On the right

“St. Helena tear down the idols” and “Invention of the Cross” about 1579 by Giovanni De Vecchi who also painted the “Sibyl”, the two “Prophets” and the two higher “Stories with angels” and to whom it was initially entrusted the job of completing the whole cycle

“Miracle of the True Cross” 1589 by Niccolò Circignani aka Pomarancio who also did the two “Prophets” and the “Story” above

On the left

“Duel between Heraclius and Chosroes”, “Vision of Heraclius” and two “Prophets” by Niccolò Circignani aka Pomarancio

“Heraclius carrying the Cross in Jerusalem”, two “Prophets” and “Sibyl” by Cesare Nebbia (1536/1614)

ALTAR

In the niche on the right “Magdalena” and on the left “St. John the Evangelist” Cesare Nebbia

In the lunette above the altar “Eternal Father” by Paris Nogari

The wooden “Crucifix” is a copy of the miraculous one preserved in S. Marcello al Corso

“Madonna of the Sun” maybe dating back to the begin of fifteenth century from the chapel at the Monastery of Tor de' Specchi