Santa Maria in Monserrato
​degli Spagnoli

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Map of the Churches of Rome

Santa Maria in Monserrato degli Spagnoli

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The 16th century church of Santa Maria in Monserrato degli Spagnoli, the national church of the Spanish, is dedicated to the Madonna of Montserrat, an ancient and a much venerated image of the Virgin, which is located in a shrine on the mountain of Montserrat near Barcelona. 

Virgin and Child with Saw

​Montserrat translates as the 'serrated mountain', hence the presence of a saw in the sculpture of the Virgin and Child, above the entrance to the church.

Nave

The interior comprises a nave, which is flanked on each side by three chapels. 

Chapel of St Anne

The first chapel on the left is dedicated to St Anne. 

Virgin & Child with St Anne by Tommaso Boscoli

The sculpture of the Virgin and Child with St Anne and Donor (1544) is by Tommaso Boscoli (c. 1501-74). It, and the aumbry on the right pilaster--attributed to the 15th century sculptor Luigi Capponi--were brought from the church of San Giacomo degli Spagnoli in Piazza Navona, which is now Nostra Signora del Sacro Cuore.

Chapel of the Madonna of Montserrat

The design of the sumptuously decorated Chapel of the Madonna of Montserrat (second left) is attributed to the Roman architect Carlo Francesco Bizzacheri (1655-1721). 

Wooden Statue of the Madonna & Child

The wooden statue of the Madonna and Child, the work of Manuel Martí Cabrer, is a modern copy of the famous statue at the Abbey of Montserrat. The fresco panels are all by Giovanni Battista Ricci da Novara (1537-1627). 

Dome

The dome should not be missed. The pendentives depict the four Evangelists, while the four panels in the cupola feature prophets and sibyls, with Christ in Glory in the oculus.

Monument to the Borgia Popes by Felipe Moratilla

The remains of the two Borgia popes, Callixtus III (r. 1455-58) and Alexander VI (r. 1492-1503), are interred in the first chapel on the right. Both popes were originally buried in St Peter's Basilica and were moved here following the rebuilding of the church. The rather fine memorial (1889) is the work of the Spanish sculptor Felipe Moratilla (1827-1908).  

Bust of Monsignor Pedro de Foix Montoya

Santa Maria in Monserrato is home to an early work by Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680); his bust of Monsignor Pedro de Foix Montoya (c. 1622). The likeness was so impressive that a cardinal observed: 'This is Montoya petrified'. It was Montoya who had commissioned Bernini to carve, perhaps a couple of years earlier, the Damned Soul and the Blessed Soul. 

​All three sculptures used to be housed in the Sacristy, but only the bust of Montoya remains; the other two sculptures were transferred to the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See.  

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