Santa Maria in Trastevere
Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere
Of ancient foundation, the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere was built at the behest of Pope Innocent II (r. 1130-43). The beautiful mosaics on its façade also date back to this period, as does the bell tower.
Bell Tower
Mosaic of the Virgin and Child
The bell tower sports a mosaic of the Virgin and Child. It also has a working clock, which was added in the 18th century. The bell that rings the hours crowns the campanile.
Santa Maria in Trastevere
The church is entered through a portico (1702), the work of Carlo Fontana. It is crowned with statues of four saints: St Callixtus, St Cornelius, St Pope Julius and St Calepodius (their relics are interred under the high altar). The walls of the portico are covered with fragments of early Christian inscriptions.
Portico
The Annunciation
There are also two very faded frescoes of the Annunciation, both of which, unusually, depict the Virgin on the left of the scene. If you look very carefully at the fresco on the south wall, you will see a rare example of the Incarnation of Christ taking the form of a small, naked figure holding a cross. The donor crouches at the feet of Gabriel
Tondo
The main door to the church bears an inscription from Psalm 118: HAEC EST PORTA DOMINI IVSTI INTRABVNT IN EAM ('This gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter', KJV). The door is surmounted by the Greek letters MHΘY (Meter Theou, Mother of God). Mary was declared to be the Mother of God at the Council of Ephesus (431) and Santa Maria in Trastevere claims to be the oldest Marian church in Rome.
The central door has often served as a Holy Door (Porta Santa) during Jubilee Years, when the basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura couldn't, for some reason or other, be used.
The central door has often served as a Holy Door (Porta Santa) during Jubilee Years, when the basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura couldn't, for some reason or other, be used.
Nave
Nave
The nave, which sports a striking Cosmatesque floor (relaid in the 19th century), is divided from the aisles by 21 antique granite columns of varying lengths and thicknesses, which were clearly salvaged from several different buildings. The columns sport both Ionic and Corinthian capitals, some of which are carved with the heads of pagan deities. The columns also support architraves rather than arches and this creates a powerful horizontal accent, which draws the eye to the apse. The triumphal arch sits on two great porphyry columns, which sport finely carved classical capitals.
Aumbry by Mino da Reame
The beautiful aumbry, which is on the right wall at the beginning of the nave, is the signed work (OPVS MINI) of the Neapolitan sculptor, Mino del Reame, who was active in Rome between 1460 and 1480. An aumbry is used for the storage of the holy oil (OLEA SANCTA) used in the sacraments.
Nave Ceiling (det.)
The gilded, wooden ceiling was designed by Domenichino (1581-1641), who also painted the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1617), which we see in the centre
The Coat of Arms of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini
It is thought that the geometric pattern of the coffering may be based on the Aldobrandini coat-of-arms, since a cardinal belonging to this family funded its creation. An inscription at one end of the ceiling reads: DEI MATRI VIRGINIQ[ue] MARIAE IN CAELVM ASSVMPTAE PETRVS CARD[inalis] ALDOBRANDINVS S[anctae] R[omanae] E[cclesiae] CAMER[arius] D[ono] D[edit] ANNO MDCXVII (Peter Aldobrandini, cardinal and Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, gave [this] as a gift to the Mother of God and Virgin Mary, assumed into heaven, in the year 1617).
Apse Mosaics
The medieval mosaics on the arch and half-dome of the apse are the glories of the church and date back to the time of Pope Innocent II (1130-43). The scenes of the Life of the Virgin on the lower register are the work (c. 1298) of Pietro Cavallini, a Roman painter and mosaicist. The mosaics are generally hailed as marking a major move away from the Byzantine style towards a more naturalistic form of representation. The mosaic above the episcopal throne is also by Cavallini and depicts the Madonna and Child flanked by St Paul, St Peter and the donor, Cardinal Bertoldo Stefaneschi.
Fons Olei
In front of the altar, to the right, a spot marked FONS OLEI indicates the place where, according to one legend, a spring of oil suddenly began to flow in 38 or 37 BCE. This was later interpreted by the Christian community as a sign from God announcing the advent of his son. According to another legend, the oil actually sprang up on the year of Christ’s nativity.
There is an inscription in the floor in front of it, which reads in translation: From this place oil flowed when Christ shone forth from the Virgin. Here, too, pardon is granted to whosoever asks for it. Here the oil springs forth—just as God was born of the Virgin—and with this oil Rome is consecrated as the head of the world. Verses that were once read at the spring of oil).
There is an inscription in the floor in front of it, which reads in translation: From this place oil flowed when Christ shone forth from the Virgin. Here, too, pardon is granted to whosoever asks for it. Here the oil springs forth—just as God was born of the Virgin—and with this oil Rome is consecrated as the head of the world. Verses that were once read at the spring of oil).
Transept
Coat of arms of Cardinal Giulio Santorio
The wooden ceiling in the transept was commissioned by Cardinal Giulio Santorio in 1596. The cardinal's coat of arms appears alongside that of Pope Pius IX (r. 1846-7). In the centre appears an image of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. In the 1860s, the church was heavily restored and redecorated at the behest of Pius IX. The frescoes on the triumphal arch and in the nave were added at this time, as well as the three stained glass windows in the facade. The baldacchino, which was designed by the Roman architect Virginio Vespignani (1808-82), also dates from this period.
Avila Chapel
Vault of the Avila Chapel
The fifth chapel in the left aisle is the Cappella Avila, which was designed by architect and artist Antonio Gherardi (1638-1702). The chapel’s dome is a gem of Baroque architecture. In the centre of the cupola, we see four angels holding up a small temple or tempietto, which pierces the oculus.
Altar, Avila Chapel
The altar has an odd perspective device, as if the altarpiece were at the end of a short passage. The altarpiece of St Jerome in the Desert is by Gherardi.
Tomb slab
Gherardi plays another trick with the inscription on the tomb slab in the floor of the chapel. Straightened out, the inscription would read: SVRGITE MORTVI ET VENITE AD IUDICIVM (Arise, ye dead, and come to judgement).
Bussi Chapel
Funerary monument to Cardinal Pietro Francesco Bussi
The Cappella Bussi, the first chapel off the right aisle, is dedicated to St Frances of Rome (1384-1440), and served as the funerary chapel of the Bussi family, to which she belonged. On the left wall there is a funerary monument to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Bussi (1726) and on the right one to Cardinal Pietro Francesco Bussi (1765). The Bussi family's rather creepy coat of arms comprises nothing more than a pair of eyes!
Chapel of the Winter Choir
Madonna di Strada Cupa
At the end of the right aisle is the Cappella del Coro d'Inverno (Chapel of the Winter Choir), so called because this is where the Divine Office was sung during the winter months when the main body of the church was too cold, especially in the early morning. It was converted into a chapel on the orders of Pope Urban VIII (r. 1623-44) to house a popular icon of the Virgin Mary known as the Madonna di Strada Cupa (Madonna of the Dark Street).
Vault
The vault of the chapel is particularly beautiful.
Coat of arms of Cardinal Henry Stuart
In 1759 the chapel was restored by Henry Benedict Stuart, Duke of York (1725-1807), on the occasion of his being elected a cardinal. Upon the death of his brother, ‘Bonnie’ Prince Charlie, in 1788, the cardinal came to be known by the Jacobites as King Henry IX of England and Ireland and King Henry I of Scotland. This explains the presence of the royal coat of arms above the entrance to the chapel. The crescent in the centre of his coat of arms is known in heraldry as a cadency. It denotes the coat of arms to be that of the second son of a family.
Henry Benedict Stuart was a cardinal for 56 years, making him the longest-serving cardinal in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.
Henry Benedict Stuart was a cardinal for 56 years, making him the longest-serving cardinal in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.
Funerary Monuments
Tomb of Cardinal Philippe d’Alencon
Towards the end of the aisle is the tomb of Cardinal Philippe d’Alencon, who died in 1397, the work of the Florentine sculptor Giovanni d’Ambrogio (active 1382-1418). The tomb boasts a beautiful bas-relief of the Death of the Virgin Mary.
Funerary Monument of Cardinal Stanislaus Hosius
Against the far wall of the right transept is a funerary monument to Stanislaus Hosius, a polish cardinal who was a very important figure in the Counter-Reformation, as can be gleaned from the two inscriptions on the base of the monument. One reads: HAEC · SCRIPSI · VOBIS · DE · IIS · QVI · SEDVCVNT · VOS (I have written these things concerning those who would seduce you); and the other: CATHOLICVS · NON · EST · QVI · A · ROMANA · ECCLESIA · IN · FIDEI · DOCTRINA · DISCORDAT (He is not a Catholic who disagrees with the Roman Church in doctrines concerning the faith).