Thursday, November 28, 2013

CIRCUS MAXIMUS

CIRCO MASSIMO
According to tradition the first horse race was held in the Vallis Murcia corresponding to the valley where the Circus Maximus is now. It would have been organized by Romulus in honor of the god Consus, whom altar used to be here, on the occasion of the celebrations concluded with the rape of the Sabine women
However, it is more likely that the first horse races were held under king Tarquinius Priscus (616/578 BC)
The Circus was used until the last races organized by Totila king of Goths in 549 AD. A staggering and incredible period of 1,150 years of horse racing in this valley!
The carceres (cages to start the horses off) made of wood were built in 329 BC. The first carceres built in concrete date back to 174 BC, the same year when seven stone eggs were placed in the spina (the middle of the Circus around which the horses used to run) to count the laps
It was massively enlarged in 46 BC by Julius Caesar
In 33 BC Agrippa added seven bronze dolphins to count the laps in substitution of the eggs
In 10 BC the OBELISK OF RAMSES II (1297/1213 BC) (about 1250 BC) was added on the spina: it came from Heliopolis in Egypt. It is now in Piazza del Popolo and it is known as Obelisco Flaminio
The second OBELISK OF THUTMOSE III (1,400 BC) from Thebes and now in front of St. John Lateran was placed in the Circus only in 357 AD by Constance II (337/361)
In the period of Augustus the Circus was 621 x 118 m (2,040 x 390 feet) with a capacity of 150,000 spectators
It was destroyed by fire in AD 36 and the fire of Nero in AD 64 started from here
After the fire Nero (54/68) ordered to rebuild the huge stadium and he increased the capacity to the incredible number of 250,000 spectators. A pretty good achievement for an emperor like Nero who went down in history as a selfish lunatic. Maybe he hadn't been such a bad emperor for the Romans after all
On the year 81 AD on the stand by the Capena Gate, at the beginning of the Appian Way, the TRIUMPHAL ARCH OF TITUS was built to commemorate the Judean war. It substituted the previous and maybe already knocked down ARCH OF STERTINIUS
Now two ancient columns stand at the beginning of the Appian Way to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in New York
Augustus had the PULVINAR, imperial stand on Palatine Hill. After another fire, this time under Domitian, the Circus was rebuilt by Trajan (98/117) and the ruins visible now date back to that period
In the IV century AD the Cataloghi Regionari (a precious document describing buildings in Rome in the IV century) describe the Circus with a capacity, probably overestimated, of 385,000 spectators. The width of the building at this date was 200 m (656 feet)
The cavea (stands) was on three levels with arches. The upper level was probably made of wood
Chariots were usually pulled by four horses (quadrigas) but there could have been exceptionally as many as ten horses for each chariot. The inexperienced charioteers would ride chariots with two horses (bigas)
In the fourth century AD the four teams Albata (white), Russata (red), Prasina (green) e Veneta (blue) had become as powerful as political parties
The seven laps of the race would normally last about fifteen minutes
The number of the laps (seven like the planets) and the orientation of the Circus with Mons Albanus, the sacred mountain for the Romans, in clear view of the finishing line had a clear religious and symbolical meaning
The track was at least 5 meters (15 feet) below the ground level visible nowadays
CHARIOTEERS were extremely popular. Many started their careers as slaves and ended up becoming so rich to be able to buy their own freedom
Appuleius Diocles was charioteer for twenty-four years, competing in more than 4,000 races and winning about 1,500 of them. One source mentions the total amount of his earnings: 35,863,120 sesterces probably shared in part with his staff and his team
To give an idea of the incredible amount of money that 35,863,120 sesterces was, it would be worth mentioning a few facts to be used as comparison: in those days the minimum daily wage was about 5 sesterces, the annual income of a soldier about 1,200 sesterces, an average Roman citizen would live decently with 20,000 sesterces (nobody paid taxes in Rome), to be considered a Knight (equites) assets worth 400,000 were required and to be a Senator assets had to be worth at least 1,000,000 sesterces
In 1959 some scenes of the movie Ben Hur were supposed to be shot here, but eventually the Roman authorities refused the authorisation to shoot here and the scenes were shot at the Circus of Maxentius on the Appian Way instead
The TOWER ON THE SHORT SIDE BY PORTA CAPENA also known as Turris in Capite Circi o Turris de Arco (it was standing by the now destroyed Arch of Titus) dates back to the tenth or eleventh century
In 1145 it was rented by the monks of St. Gregorius on the Celium Hill to the aristocrat Cencio Frangipane. It was later known as Torre della Moletta (Tower of the small mill) for a nearby mill that used water of a stream coming from the area of St. John Lateran. The stream is gone now but water is still present only a few feet below ground
In this tower St. Francis of Assisi was guest in 1223 of the Roman noble woman Jacopa dei Normanni o Jacopa Settesoli, so called because of the nearby ruins of the Septizonium still standing at the time
The area of the Circus Maximus until the 1930s was occupied by an industrial complex with a gas facility and warehouses
A stadium as big as the Circus Maximus has never been built before anywhere on this planet and it hasn't been built again yet. It was almost twice the size of the currently largest existing stadium, the Rungrado May Day Stadium in North Korea which has a capacity of 150,000. Finally in 2011 proper archeological excavations are being carried out, long overdue for such an important building

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

CIRCUS FLAMINIUS

CIRCO FLAMINIO
220 BC for Caius Flaminius Nepos democratic leader. He was also the sponsor of the Flaminian Way
It was an area always connected to the plebs: the Concilia Plebis (meetings) were taking place here as well as the Ludi Plebeii (games) and some of the temples that used to surround it were on the Aventine Hill, the plebs' hill
The Circus Flaminius was also the gathering place for the beginning of the triumphal marches
Many temples used to surround it. Three were made of marble and built by the Greek architect Hermodoros from Salamina
Next to the Theatre of Marcellus
APOLLO SOSIANO 431 BC Cneo Iulius rebuilt in 179 BC by Marcus Fulvius Nobiliore
BELLONA 296 BC Appius Claudius Cieco
PIETÀ 181 BC Marcus Acilius Glabrione
DIANA 179 BC Marcus Emilius Lepido
In the Porticus Metelli (later Porticus of Ottavia)
IUNO regina 179 BC Marcus Emilius Lepido
IUPPITER STATORE 146 BC Quintus Cecilius Metello Macedonico
Other temples
VULCANO dating is uncertain but not later than the III century BC
HERCULES OF THE MUSES 189/179 BC Marcus Fulvius Nobiliore
MARS about 135 BC Brutus Callaicus, corresponding to the church of S. Salvatore in Campo
NEPTUNE already existing in the III century BC and rebuilt in 125 BC by Cneus Domitius Enobarbo, corresponding to the Manili's House
HERCULES PROTECTOR by Silla
CASTORS about 70 BC maybe by Metellus Pius
Other buildings
PORTICUS OF OCTAVIA 168 BC Cneus Octavius
PORTICUS METELLI (later Porticus of Octavia) 146 BC Quintus Cecilius Metellus Macedonicus
PORTICUS PHILIPPI 29 BC Lucius Marcius Philippus 

Monday, November 25, 2013

NEW-SACHER MOVIE THEATER

CINEMA NUOVO-SACHER 
1936/40 Ettore Rossi (1894/1968) one of the architects of the EUR district
The original name was Teatro Dopolavoro Manifattura dei Tabacchi (Recreational theatre of the Cigarette Factory), then became Nuovo Cinema (New Cinema)
In 1991 it was restructured and taken over by the film director Nanni Moretti, who chose the current name for his great passion for the Austrian cake Sachertorte
Mosaic on the entrance wall "Orpheus" by Angelo Canevari (1901/55)

MAESTOSO MOVIE THEATER

CINEMA MAESTOSO 
1956 Riccardo Morandi (1902/89)
It was the first multiplex cinema in Rome. The building includes a gym, two shops and fourteen apartments
"Morandi is operating in one of the areas most affected by the wild expansion of the city, on the Via Appia Nuova, where, as noted by Zevi, the rare attempts of qualified architecture are off-key, and after a few months, end up becoming ridiculous" (Achille Ippolito - Mario Pagnotta)

Sunday, November 24, 2013

ETOILE MOVIE THEATER

CINEMA ETOILE
Piazza S. Lorenzo in Lucina
1916/18 Marcello Piacentini (1881/1960)
Originally known as CINEMA-TEATRO CORSO
Piacentini designed it originally in a style influenced by the Vienna Secession style but he had to change it into a more "Roman" style during the First World War because critics considered it unpatriotic
It was the first building ever to be built entirely in reinforced steel in Rome and it did not have pillars or columns to support the two upper galleries 
The theater had a capacity of 800 seats and, with the galleries, the capacity was 1,300 seats 
"The entire interior was soberly decorated with stuccos with very soft lines and with bas-reliefs by Arturo Dazzi and Alfredo Biagini. Particularly interesting was the solution of the façade, set on a continuous surface marked by four windows connected by a headband with a delicate frieze in stucco. At the sides the building was completed by two small bow windows while the ground attack was marked by a striking glass and metal canopy supported by chains. Once completed, the project aroused very negative reactions and at the end of a long controversy Piacentini was prescribed substantial changes to the façade" (Piero Ostilio Rossi)
It is part of PALAZZO RUSPOLI
It has been recently modified in a very invasive way and it has become the biggest Louis Vitton store in Rome

CAPRANICA MOVIE THEATER

CINEMA CAPRANICA
1678 for Pompeo and Federico Capranica who tore down the dividing walls of the ground floor of PALAZZO CAPRANICA. It was mainly used for opera and it is one of the oldest entertainment halls in Rome
Rebuilt 1694 by Carlo Buratti (active since 1694/died after 1734)
Completed 1713 by Tommaso Mattei (1652/1726), pupil of Carlo Fontana
Stage sets designed in the years 1713/39 by Filippo Juvarra (1678/1736), Francesco Galli Bibbiena (1659/1739) and Mauro Fontana (1701/67)
It was an active and prestigious theater used for both opera and plays. In 1750 Carlo Goldoni attended the premiere of his Pamela maritata (Married Pamela), written especially for this theater
Restored 1751 by Egidio Marescotti
Rebuilt 1852 by Gaspare Servi for Bartolomeo Capranica to whom it had been entrusted by Alessandro Torlonia
Closed in 1881 and converted into a warehouse. It was used as a cinema from 1922 till 2000
Since 2005 is a conference center occasionally used for concerts

ROME FILM STUDIOS

CINECITTÀ
1937 Gino Peresutti (1883/1940)
Area of 400.000 m² (100 acres) with twenty-two studios for shooting movies
In Piazza di Cinecittà ISTITUTO NAZIONALE LUCE (National Light Institute) 1937 by Clemente Busiri Vici (1887/1965), Andrea jr. Busiri Vici, Arnaldo Regaglioli and Rodolfo Rustichelli
Now it is used as the headquarters of the Council of the Tenth Municipio (neighborhood) of Rome

Friday, November 22, 2013

CAMPO VERANO CEMETERY

CIMITERO MONUMENTALE DEL VERANO
1807/12 begun by Giuseppe Valadier (1762/1839)
Continued by Virginio Vespignani (1808/82) who also designed the great SQUARE PORTICO in 1880
It was enlarged until 1960
The name derives from the Verani family, an ancient Roman patrician family who used to own this area in the Republican period
Statues 1874/78 "Meditation" and "Charity" by Francesco Fabj-Altini (1830/1906), "Hope" by Stefano Galletti (1832/1905) pupil of Pietro Tenerani and "Silence" by Giuseppe Blasetti (1826/1908)
Among the monuments:
"Painter Tommaso Minardi" 1876 by Luigi Fontana (1827/1908)
"General Giacomo Medici" 1884 by Giulio Monteverde (1837/1917)
"Erminia Fuà Fusinato" 1876 by Stefano Galletti
On the small hill known as PINCETTO
"Monument to the pontifical soldiers fallen during the Mentana battle against the Italian army" by Vincenzo Luccardi (1808/76)
"Monument to the navy soldiers of the Sebastiano Veniero submarine" 1930 by Publio Morbiducci (1889/1963)
"Monument to the Roman soldier fallen during the First World War in the years 1915/18" 1922/31 by Raffaele De Vico (1881/1969)
CHAPEL OF St. MARY OF MERCY
Built in 1859
"Purgatory's souls" by Tommaso Minardi (1787/1871)

Thursday, November 21, 2013

NON-CATHOLIC CEMETERY

CIMITERO ACATTOLICO
The oldest tomb dates back to 1738 but it was officially opened in 1821. Among the celebrities buried here:
The English sublime poet John Keats. He died of tuberculosis in Rome in 1821
The other great Romantic English poet, friend of Keats, Percy Shelley. He drowned in the Ligurian Sea near Portovenere in 1822
Antonio Gramsci founder of the Italian Communist Party. There is mistake in the Latin inscription: cinera - ashes - instead of cineres
The American sculptor Hendrik Christian Andersen (1872/1940). He came to Rhode Island as a child from Norway. When he was 21 he traveled to Europe and eventually he settled in Rome. He bequeathed his home, studio, papers and more than 400 pieces of his work to the Italian Government. The home has been renovated and now is a museum located at Via Pasquale Stanislao Mancini, 20 near Piazzale Flaminio
The Swedish writer Axel Munthe
The Roman painter Enrico Coleman (1846/1911)
The English painter Joseph Severn buried next to his friend Keats
Goethe's son with bronze portrait by Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770/1844)
The admiral of the US Navy Thomas Jefferson Page with a marvelous 1899 sculpture by Ettore Ximenes (1855/1926). During the Civil War he fought for the Confederate Army
Emelyn Story wife of the American sculptor William Story (1819/95) with beautiful sculpture "Angel of Pain" that he himself executed just before he died. He was buried in the tomb as well

WALDESIAN CHURCH

CHIESA VALDESE
1911/14 Guido Bonci and Emanuele Rutelli in Byzantine-Ottonian style
Decorations and windows by Paolo Paschetto (1885/1963)
In the back of the church in Via Cossa 42 there is the WALDESIAN FACULTY OF TEOLOGY 1907/09 by Giulio Magni (1859/1930). Library with about 71,0000 volumes
CHIESA VALDESE
1883 Benedetto Andolfi (active 1874/83)
The Waldensian Church is present in Italy from the thirteenth century and has about 25,000 faithful

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

NEW CHURCH

CHIESA NUOVA
Original ancient church S. MARIA IN VALLICELLA (S. Mary of the Little Valley) mentioned in the sources from the twelfth century and dedicated to the Nativity of Our Lady
It was assigned to S. Filippo Neri (1515/95) - St. Philip Neri in English - founder in 1551 of the nearby Oratory and the Congregation of the Philippines
It was rebuilt and therefore called CHIESA NUOVA (New Church) in the years 1575/85 by Matteo Bartolani da Città di Castello (c.1527/c.1598) imitating the Chiesa del Gesù (Church of the Gesu) for Pope Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572/85) and Cardinal Alessandro de' Medici
In digging the foundations a long ancient wall was discovered, a paries (in latin "large wall"), on which an entire side of the church sits. It gave its name to the whole district even now known as Parione
In 1585 Giacomo della Porta (1533/1602) succeeded
Finally in the years 1586/90 Martino Longhi the Elder (1534/91) added the five side chapels on each nave and erected apse, transept and dome
The church was consecrated on the year 1599
1594/1606 by Fausto Rughesi for the bishop Angelo Cesi in Todi, whose name is engraved on the façade
The construction of the church therefore lasted 31 years
The DRUM of the dome was maybe designed by Carlo Maderno (1556/1629)
In the NICHES of the facade on the right "St. Jerome" and on the left "St. Gregory the Great" Giovanni Antonio Parracca aka Valsoldo (?/1642-46)
BELL TOWER
1666 by Camillo Arcucci (active since 1646/d. 1667)
RIGHT END SIDE OF THE CHURCH
Brick curtain of the years 1673/75 by Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91)
VAULT "Miracle of the Virgin during the construction of the church" 1664/65 inspired by the miracle of 1576 when St. Philip Neri had a dream of the collapse and warned the builders found a beam suspended in the air
APSE "Assumption" 1655/60
PEDIMENTS "Prophets" 1659/60 all masterpieces of Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)
Stucco pieces designed by Pietro Da Cortona himself and executed by Cosimo Fancelli (1620/88) and Ercole Ferrata (1610/86)
"While the sophistication, elegance, delicacy, and the decorative profusion of the Pamphilj ceiling attracts the refined taste of the few, the work of the church speaks to the masses with a sweeping motion, the dazzling multitude of figures and the powerful emphasis, with references to Lanfranco and Correggio. He did not attempt to transplant in the church his old style of secular decoration, nor he used the illusionistic magic used in Bernini and Gaulli's circle and in the Quadratura's (illusionistic ceiling painting) circle. Faithful to his old ways, he insisted on a clear division between painted areas and areas with decorations" (Rudolf Wittkower)
In the COUNTER FAÇADE allegories in the stucco "Contempt of the World" and "Silence" by Ercole Ferrata
Fourteen paintings "Stories from the Old and New Testament" 1697/1700 by some of the most important painters active in Rome at the end of the seventeenth century: Giuseppe Ghezzi (1634/1721), Daniele Seiter (1649/1705), Giuseppe Passeri (1654/1714), Lazzaro Baldi (about 1624/1703) and Domenico Parodi (1672/1742), with sculptures of the frames by Camillo Rusconi (1658/1728)
RIGHT SIDE
1st RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE CROSS
"Crucifixion" about 1586 Scipione Pulzone (about 1550/98)
In the vault "Crowning with Thorns", "Flagellation" and "Agony in the Garden" 1621 by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647)
In the ceiling "Pieta" and "Two prophets" 1612 by Angelo Caroselli (1585/1652)
Until 1797 the painting "Deposition" 1602/04 by Michelangelo Merisi called Caravaggio was located here. It ended up at the Vatican Museums after being returned by the French in 1817 and it was replaced here by a copy of the end of 1700s by Michael Köck
3rd RIGHT - ASCENSION CHAPEL
"Ascension" about 1586 by Girolamo Muziano (1532/92)
4th RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
"Pentecost" 1689 by Giovanni Maria Morandi (1622/1717)
5th RIGHT - CHAPEL OF THE ASSUMPTION
"Assumption" about 1643 by Giovanni Domenico Cerrini (1609/81)
Frescoes "Stories of Mary" and "Six episodes of the infancy of Christ" by Aurelio Lomi (1556/1622)
RIGHT TRANSEPT
"Coronation of Mary" 1615 Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino (1568/1640)
Statue at the sides "St. John the Baptist" and "St. John the Evangelist" about 1595 by Flaminio Vacca (1538/1605)
Begun in 1662 by Camillo Arcucci (active since 1646/d. 1667) and finished in 1667 by Carlo Rainaldi
Stuccos "Gloria", "Angels" and four medallions with "Stories of St. Charles Borromeo" 1667 by Giovanni Francesco De Rossi (active 1640/77)
On the altar "Madonna and Child with Saints Charles and Ignatius" 1675 by Carlo Maratta (1625/1713)
"What made more impression on his contemporaries was that he restored the sense of dignity of the human figure seen in large, simple plastic shapes and reproduced with a sincerity and moral conviction unmatched at that time. By the mid-seventies, nor the followers of Gaulli nor those of Cortona had any serious chance and at the end of the century Rome had virtually surrendered to the style of Maratta. At his death his students controlled the situation in full" (Rudolf Wittkower)
WOODEN CHOIR 1698 designed by Camillo Rusconi (1658/1728)
1596/99 G.B. Guerra probably from a design of his brother Giovanni Guerra (1544/1618)
"Virgin and Child" on copper with a mechanical mechanism that covers the miraculous fresco of the fifteenth century "Madonna of the Vallicella and Child with angels on crescent moon"
It was originally located outside a building used as a public bath. In 1535 it bled after being hit by a stone thrown by a sacrilegious passerby
It is surrounded by "Angels" with on the right "Sts. Domitilla, Nereus and Achilleus" and on the left "Sts. Gregory, Maurus and Papias" on a blackboard 1606/08 works of a young and extraordinary Peter Paul Rubens (1577/1640)
"This work constituted the most significant message that the artist expressed regarding the concept of space. The arrangement of the paintings placed within the frames of stucco in the presbytery creates a perfect balance between architecture and painting and a visual and tangible unity of the phisical space. The new Rubens' way of understanding space in its deceptive and spectacular elements derived from an attitude toward the sentimental representation that will be typical of the 1630's generation of Baroque artists. Rubens anticipated their ideas and their figurative ideals, their judgments critical of the tradition. Therefore the work of the Flemish artist, who never returned to Italy, can be considered the archetype of the Baroque. A spiritual and visual congeniality worth more than any direct teaching" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
Beautiful "Tabernacle" 1684 designed by Ciro Ferri (1634/89) and executed by Carlo Marcellini and Francesco Nuvolone with relics of the saints represented by Rubens except St. Gregory the Great, transferred here in the late 1500s
Under the altar bronze "Crucifix" by Guillaume Berthelot (about 1570/1648)
LEFT SIDE
1600/04 begun by Onorio Longhi (1568/1619) and finished by Paolo Marucelli (1594/1649) with an extraordinary marble revetment
In the bronze urn there are the remains of St. Philip Neri
On the altar "St. Philip and the Virgin" copy in mosaic of the 1774 original by Guido Reni, now in the Upper Chapel of the Sanctuary
On the walls "Stories of St. Philip Neri" 1596/99 by Cristoforo Roncalli aka Pomarancio (1552/1626)
LEFT TRANSEPT
On the altar "Presentation of Mary in the Temple" 1603 masterpiece by Federico Fiori aka Barocci (1535/1612)
"He invented a painting style of great emotional significance, in which the expressive power of feelings melts into delicate effects of 'sfumato' (low contrast) nuances, with a changing palette that uses colors as vehicles of light, dynamic and evanescent substance of forms" (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)
"The masterpieces by Barocci were the most important and influential prototypes in the painting of altarpieces in Rome: their fame radiated far beyond the borders of central Italy, even beyond the Alps. They were the true expression of the ideality of the Counter-Reformation spirit: radiant visions of a heavenly world, witnesses of delicate inner fantasies or rapture. In their sensibility, and no less in their free formal structure, they show very clearly both a departure from the ideal of the ancients, which had dominated the Renaissance, and both the need for a new freer and grander form" (Hermann Voss)
Statues at the sides "St. Peter" and "St. Paul" 1592 Giovanni Antonio Parracca aka Valsoldo (?/1642-46)
ORGAN of 1610 still functioning and WOODEN CHOIR 1698 designed by Camillo Rusconi (1658/1728)
5th LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE ANNUNCIATION
"Annunciation" about 1591 by Domenico Crespi aka Passignano (1559/1638)
4th LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE VISITATION
"Visitation" 1586 by Federico Fiori aka Barocci
"In the altarpieces by Barocci one can recognize very clearly that tendency to rhythmicity and the dynamism which in its most extreme consequences would lead to the Baroque style. The concept of painting tends more and more towards a continuous movement and a constant dynamic tension. If with Michelangelo and his followers a residue of statuary isolation of every single figure was left, now the single sculptural theme stops definitively to have importance for himself. The tension of each movement toward one of the three dimensions automatically causes the counter-diagonal reaction of another figure or of another figurative element, so that the whole composition appears to be, in a certain way, in a continuous state of becoming" (Hermann Voss)
In the vault "Sts. Matthew, John the Baptist and John the Evangelist" 1619 by Carlo Saraceni (1579/1620)
3rd LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE NATIVITY
"Adoration of the Shepherds" 1582 by Durante Alberti (1538/1616)
In the vault "Sts. Agnes, Catherine and Cecilia" by Cristoforo Roncalli aka Pomarancio (1552/1626)
2nd LEFT - CHAPEL OF THE MAGI or CEVA'S CHAPEL
1578 "Adoration of the Magi" by Cesare Nebbia (1536/1614)
On the ceiling 1625 oil paintings maybe by Baccio Ciarpi (1574/1654)
1st LEFT - CHAPEL OF PURIFICATION
"Purification of the Virgin" 1627 Giuseppe Cesari aka Cavalier d'Arpino, oil on canvas with Mary presenting the Child Jesus to Simeon
1629 Paolo Marucelli (1594/1649)
ALTAR project of Paolo Marucelli finished by Taddeo Landi with the help of Francesco Borromini (1599/1667)
Splendid marble group "St. Philip Neri and an Angel" 1640 and "Bronze bust of Pope Gregory XV Ludovisi (1621/23)" by Alessandro Algardi (1598/1654)
St. Gregory XV canonized Philip Neri in 1622
"On the pages of the book the words of Psalm 118 are inscribed, alluding to the expansion to which the heart of St. Philip was said to have been subjected for his deep faith, so much that it caused him a broken rib. Nothing miraculous or marvelous is represented in the marble group and even the sweet and calm movements of the hands of the saint are to indicate a real profound religiousness, never shown off. Really no other artist better than Algardi could have interpreted as effectively the serene sweetness and intensely spiritual nature of the Oratory Faith. In particular, then, the figure of the angel fruit of an ingenious invention, with his naturally sweet gesture and expression, would have long been a point of reference for art in the seventeenth century in Rome" (Alessandro Angelini)
At the sides of the altar "Ecce Homo" and "Our Lady with the instruments of the Passion of Christ" by Francesco Trevisani (1656/1746)
In the VAULT "St. Michael and Angels" with instruments of the Passion about 1638 by Pietro da Cortona, his first work in this church
In the cabinets precious priests' robes in silk
SANTUARIO TERRENO (Lower Sanctuary)
RED ROOM
In the vault "Stories of St. Philip Neri" 1643 by Niccolò Tornioli (1598/1651) and "Pentecost in the catacombs of St. Philip Neri" 1652 Ciro Ferri (1634/89)
"Bust of St. Philip Neri" by Alessandro Algardi
INTERNAL CHAPEL
"St. Philip and an angel" by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri aka Guercino (1591/1666)
SANTUARIO SUPERIORE (Upper Sanctuary)
Connected to the Lower Sanctuary with a spiral staircase 1638/39 by Francesco Borromini
ANTECHAMBER
On the altar famous "St. Philip and the Virgin" 1615 by Guido Reni (1575/1642)
In the vault "Ecstasy of St. Philip" and on the right wall "Madonna and Child with St. Martina" by Pietro da Cortona
On the walls "Madonna and Child with Sts. Philip and Ignatius" and "Miracle of St. Philip for Cardinal Vincenzo Maria Orsini" by Pier Leone Ghezzi (1674/1755)
PRIVATE CHAPEL OF St. PHILIP
1635 almost certainly by Paolo Marucelli (1594/1649) with intervention in 1639 by Francesco Borromini
"San Lorenzo" Cecco del Caravaggio
"St. Philip in the catacombs" by Cristoforo Roncalli aka Pomarancio (1552/1626)

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

LUTHERAN EVANGELICAL CHURCH

CHIESA EVANGELICA LUTERANA 
1911/22 Franz Schwechten (1841/1924)
Completed after the break for the First World War
Official name CHRISTSKIRCHE
John Paul II (1978/2005) visited it in 1983, on the fifth centenary of the birth of Luther, the first pope to get on a pulpit since the Protestant Reformation
Extremely important archeological pieces were found during the construction of the church: the "Sallustian Obelisk" now on top of the Spanish Steps and the "Ludovisi Throne" now in Palazzo Altemps
Old baptismal font with "Relief" 1805/07 by Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770/1844)
MOSAICS on arch and apse "Christ with the Law" by Ernst Pfannschmidt (1868/1941)