St. STANISLAUS OF THE POLISH PEOPLE

S. STANISLAO DEI POLACCHI
Via delle Botteghe Oscure 15

Originally built in the twelfth century as S. Salvatore Pensilis de Surraca on BALBO'S CRYPTOPORTICUS
In Pensilis means “in the midst of the furnaces” and it was in fact in the area of the​​Calcarario, where the furnaces used to transform marble into lime
Surraca may have been referring to a family by that name who lived in the area

It was rebuilt in the years 1580/82 after it was granted in 1578 to the Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Hozjusz to build a small home for the Poles on a pilgrimage to Rome

Consecrated in 1598 and dedicated to the Bishop of Krakow St. Stanislaus martyred in 1079 and patron saint of Poland

Restored in the years 1729/35 by Francesco Ferrari (active in Rome 1721/44) and Luigi Barattoni (active in the first quarter of the eighteenth century)

It is the only National Polish church in Italy
For celebrations where it is expected a large turnout the Polish priests of St. Stanislaus celebrate mass in the larger church of St. Mary of Consolation

VAULT
“Glory of St. Stanislaus” 1774/77 by Ermenegildo Costantini (1731/91)

“The collaboration of Costantini with Kuntz (...) shows an affinity of style between the two artists which is indicative of the formal scope in which Costantini operated. Kuntz is in fact the painter who 'definitively concluded the Roman rococo' (Schleier). So, while working in St. Catherine alongside artists such as Lapis, Monosilio, Corvi, La Piccola, transitional painters who were making their first neoclassical experiences, Costantini did not draw from this closeness any incentive for a formal updating of his style, remaining an isolated representative of a decorative language substantiated by the Rococo grace” (Marina Coccia - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

1^st CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT
Above the altar “Prince Casimir appears during the siege of Polock” about 1765 Franciszek Smuglewicz (1745/1807)

2^nd CHAPEL ON THE RIGHT
Above the altar “St. Stanislaus resurrects Piotrowin” about 1755 by Tadeusz Kuntze aka Taddeo il Polacco (1732/93)

MAIN ALTAR
“Christ with Angels, St. Stanislaus with a bishop and, below, St. Hyacinth” about 1594, first Roman work of the Sienese Antiveduto Grammatica (about 1572/1626)
In the upper part round panel with “God the Father” 1774/77 by Ermenegildo Costantini

LAST PILLAR OF THE LEFT NAVE
“Funerary Monument of the artist Giacomo Raffaelli” 1863

He became very famous for having executed in the years 1810/17 a real size copy in mosaic of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte, who had not been able to detach the original masterpiece from the wall. Since 1818 the mosaic is in the Minoritenkirche Church in Vienna

2^nd CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
Above the altar “St. Hedwig adores the Cross” 1725 by Szymon Czechowicz (1689/1775)

1^st CHAPEL ON THE LEFT
Above the altar “St. John of Kanty (St. Jan Kanty) distributes goods to the poor” 1767 by Salvatore Monosilio (active since 1744/d. 1776)
Oval panel “Communion given by the angels to St. Stanislaus Kostka” by Szymon Czechowicz (1689/1775)

SACRISTY
Three paintings with “Stories of St. Stanislaus” maybe by Franciszek Smuglewicz (1745/1807)