Tuesday, October 1, 2019

St. SAVIOR AT THE BARRELLS

S. SALVATORE ALLE COPPELLE
Piazza delle Coppelle 72b

Mentioned for the first time by the sources in 1195

It is called alle coppelle (at the barrels) from the name of the wooden barrels with a capacity of about 5 liters (1.3 gallons) made in this area until the sixteenth century

From 1300s to 1500s it was also known as S. Salvatore de Pietate

Restored about 1738/43 by Carlo De Dominicis (1696/1758)

“In his first two decades of activity De Dominicis fully adhered to the Rococo style, but in 1743 it seems he underwent a change of inclination because the simple façade 'as a temple' of the small church of S. Salvatore alle Coppelle in its cold classicism is remarkably prophetic of the imminent neoclassical style. It's not to be excluded, on the other hand, the possibility that the appearance of the church was changed in a later but not documented restoration” (John Varriano - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Restored again 1858/60 by Giacomo Monaldi (1819/1905) and in 1915 when the iconostasis was added

“The formal façade that we see today was the result of 'corrections' made ​​in the purist style in the general restoration of 1858/60, similar to what was done in those years at S. Maria dell'Umiltà (in both cases misleading art historians). Giacomo Monaldi (...) had built a few years before S. Giovanni della Malva in Trastevere, whose façade has a pattern almost identical to this one” (Federico Antonio Caiola)

BELL TOWER
About 1195, the period of Pope Celestine III Orsini (1191/98). The bell dates back to 1664

On the outside wall of the church there is perhaps the most ancient inscription in vernacular Italian: CHIA DEL S. SALVATORE DELLA PIETÀ ALER DELLE CVPELLE 1195. The font, however, appears modern and some scholars believe, with good arguments that it was made during the eighteenth-century restoration

On the outside wall of the church there is also a “Marble mail box” of 1749

It was used to post news of illness of guests in hotels and inns in Rome. The Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament and of the Divine Perseverance, which was approved in 1663, had its headquarters here and worked for two centuries precisely to help the sick pilgrims

Romanian National Church of Byzantine Catholic Rite since 1914

INTERIOR
Left wall of the entrance room “Funerary memory of Filippo Boschetti, lawyer of the Roman Rota (the highest appellate tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church)” 1740 maybe by Carlo De Dominicis

RIGHT NAVE
Fresco “Virgin Mary with Jesus on her lap” maybe by the school of Antonio Aquili aka Antoniazzo Romano (about 1435-40/1508), who had his own workshop and house in this area of ​​Rome

TEMPLON (Iconostasis)
Painted in 1915 by Alessandro Pigna (1862/1919)

“The iconostasis, which separates the nave from the chancel area was added after the assignment to the Romanian clergy, around 1915, and painted by Alessandro Pigna who illustrated the canonical subjects with academic expertise, enlivened by hints of Art Nouveau” (Antonio Federico Caiola)

LEFT NAVE - SPINOLA CHAPEL
“Tomb of Cardinal George Spinola, Bishop of Palestrina, D. 1739” 1744 masterpiece by Bernardino Ludovisi (about 1713/49)

St. SAVIOR IN THE MONTI NEIGHBORHOOD

S. SALVATORE AI MONTI
Via Madonna dei Monti 38

Mentioned for the first time by the sources in 1192
It was completely destroyed by fire during the sack of Rome in 1527
Rebuilt in the second half of the sixteenth century
Restored in 1625 and in 1762 by Antonio Asprucci (1723/1808) for Cardinal Odescalchi
Last renovation in 1904 for Pius X Sarto (1903/14)
INTERIOR
In the counter façade “Wooden choir” of 1762
Lunette above the MAIN ALTAR “Saviour between two Neophytes” 1904 by Wolfgango Conti
On the right wall “Tomb of the painter Agostino Masucci (1691/1758)” with a portrait of the painter maybe by his son Lorenzo Masucci (?/1785)

COLLEGE OF THE NEOPHYTES
To the left of the church
1635 Gaspare De Vecchi (active 1628/1643)
The neophytes were Jews or Muslims who had converted to Christianity

St. SABBAS

S. SABA
Piazza S. Saba/Piazza Gian Lorenzo Bernini 20

645, monastery dedicated to St. Sabbas (439/532), head of Eastern monasticism, founded by monks from the monastery of St. Sabbas in Judea, which had been occupied by the Muslims
It was built over ancient Roman structures, maybe the barracks of the IV Coorte dei Vigili (Fourth Cohort of the Firefighters Brigade)

According to tradition, this eventually became the site of the house of St. Silvia, mother of St. Gregory the Great (590/604)
The monks of the monastery, under the auspices of the popes, became promoters of a significant diplomatic activity and became a veritable link between East and West

In the year 768 here was imprisoned the antipope Constantine II. His eyes were gouged out, his tongue cut out, and then he was killed on the orders of Pope Stephen III (768/772)

Second phase of construction of the church in the eighth century

The PRESENT CHURCH was built in the first half of the twelfth century

The MONASTERY was assigned in the thirteenth century to the Monks of Cluny, then to the Regular Canons, to the Cistercians and finally was entrusted by Pope Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572/85) to the Hungarian German College run by the Jesuits

Restoration in the years 1932/33, after years of decline

The body of St. Sabbas was returned to the hermitage of St. Sabbas in Palestine after the Second Vatican Council

PROTHYRUM
Remodeled in the thirteenth century

PORCH WITH GALLERY AND LOGGIA
1463 for Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini, restored in the late eighteenth century by Pius VI Braschi (1775/99)

Ancient and medieval archaeological remains including:
Ancient “Fluted sarcophagus with dextrarum iunctio
Relief with “Knight with falcon” of the eighth century

PORTAL
Marble frame 1205 by Jacopo di Lorenzo di Cosma (first half of the thirteenth century)
The paintings in the upper part were executed on the occasion of the Jubilee of 1575

FLOOR
1205 Jacopo di Lorenzo di Cosma. It was restored in 1907

14 COLUMNS TAKEN FROM ANCIENT ROMAN BUILDINGS

CIBORIUM, ALTAR AND CHAIR
Rebuilt at the beginning of the twentieth century with ancient pieces

APSE
Frescos “Christ between Sts. Andrew and Sabbas”, below “Mystic Lamb and lambs in lines”, “Virgin Mary and Child with the twelve apostles”, further below “Gregory XIII and saints canonized during the Jubilee of 1575” by anonymous painters of the late sixteenth century who perhaps remade in fresco the decoration that was previously in mosaic

Above the chair “Crucifixion” of the fourteenth century

FOURTH AISLE
On the left frescos “The Legend of St. Nicholas of Bari and the three spinsters”, “Pope enthroned between two saints”, “Virgin Mary between Sts. Andrew and Sabbas” end of 1200s/beginning of 1300s by the Master of St. Sabbas

CORRIDOR IN FRONT OF THE SACRISTY
Fragments of votive panels including “Faces of three monks” of the twelfth century

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS
In 1900 the remains of the so-called Oratory of St. Silvia were found under the church, including a small chapel in the north-west corner with remains of frescoes from the first half of the tenth century:

“Three panels with the anagram signing of one Sergius Pictor, another painted inscription with enigmatic meaning and the representation of one Martinus Monachus Magister”
“The perimeter walls of the ancient church are preserved today only to a height of about a meter and a half, having been reused as stylobates of the colonnades of the medieval church. The rest of the building was demolished and obliterated by the new constructions. Certain portions of masonry and a large number of fragments of painted plaster returned to light during the excavations, as they had been used in the foundation fill of the church, over which was laid the cosmatesque floor of the new foundation. The building, according to my reconstruction, starting from the late fourth-early fifth century was affected by seven decorative campaigns, identified on the basis of the mapping and analysis of the stratigraphy of the painted plaster” (Giulia Bordi - Opera · Nomina · Historiae 1-2009 - Journal of the artistic culture of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa)