Church of Boy's Town

While in Boy’s Town last week, we were taken through the church they have there. Now many of the boys are not Catholic, because the countries they draw from are very west of Rome, around the Middle East area. The church was obviously not comparable at all to the churches around Rome, but it had a very homely feeling toward it. It was a bit gloomy, with cement walls and a small alter with a crucifix above. I could be wrong, but I think it was the first church I’ve seen in Europe that had the Stations of the Cross on the sides of the church interior. They had beautiful stained glass windows and a very cool engraving in the wall of different happy people as you enter the church on your left. They have a statue of Jesus in the back of the church with no arms, and we were told that the people who live in Boy’s Town are to be the arms of Jesus. I’m sure mass on Sundays here is a very inspiring place to be.

Santa Maria della Vittoria

Santa Maria della Vittoria is a beautiful church I visited the other day. It is the home of one of Bernini's most famous works, The Ecstasy of St. Theresa. It is a beautiful sculpture of her lying on a cloud with her mouth half open and a drapery covering her body. Looking over her is angel with an arrow that is about to pierce her body. Behind the sculpture are rays bronze light. This is the first sculpture I have seen so far that has an audience sculpted on the sides of the area where the sculpture is, resembling a theater or stage. The rest of the church was also beautiful; I caught a great picture of stained glass. In the sacristy, they sell multiple items that the priests there make to raise money. They make some alcohol, candy, and medicine in little viles for different purposes. I bought a bag of berry hard candy and they are delicious. This one another great church, probably one of my top 5.

St. Peter in Chains

St. peter in Chains is a church we visited together during class. Somehow I forgot to blog about this earlier, and I haven't been in any new this week so now is a good to get it in. It is an important church for two reasons. The first reason, where there church gets its name from, is because it holds the chains that bound St. Peter when was in Jerusalem. According to legend, when Eudoxia, wife of Emperor Valentinian III, gave the chains to Pope Leo I as a gift, he compared them to the chains of St. Peter's final imprisonment in Rome and they miraculously fused together. Now they are kept in this church under the main alter in a reliquary (container for relics). The second reason the church is well known is because Michaelangelo's sculpture of Moses is held here. It is amazing larger than life size piece of work. it was completed 1515, and originally intended to be part of massive 47 statue funeral monument for Pope Julius II. But instead it became the centerpiece of his funeral monument and tomb in this church. The church has a beautiful painting on the ceiling above the Nave, and numerous other pieces of artwork.

San Giovanni In Laterano

Today we went to San Giovanni In Laterano, located southeast of the Colosseum. Walking up to the church, it is shaped almost like an L, and has a large obelisk outside and two twin crosses above one of the entrances. When you walk in, the first thing you notice is the ceiling of the church. It has an unbelievably detailed amount of designs in mostly gold, with some other red and blue coloring. One of the first things I saw in the church surprised me, because I haven’t seen it in any other church yet, was the Eye of Providence. This symbol is the eye on the pyramid on the back of our dollar bill, and represents the eye God. The main alter in the church is only allowed to be used in mass by the pope once a year. The sculptures in this church were incredible, especially by Borromini who did all of the angels throughout all the archways of both sides of the church. Berninni also did a few works in this church, but both artists were restricted with money and time.

This surprisingly was not one of my favorite churches at all. I am a big fan of the massive amounts of marble, and detail throughout the whole church. And although the ceiling in particular and the chapels off to the side and some sculptures were very impressive and specific, the walkways along the sides of the church were very bland. They had no marble pillars, no painted ceilings, nothing extravagant or different. I understand why it is like this; the church was rebuilt in a much later time than the other churches we have come across. I didn’t mind these attributes, because it was an interesting change of pace, it just wasn’t one of my favorite places. One thing inside the church I did love was the statues of the twelve apostles. In particular, the statue of Bartholomew; I did a paper on him in high school and knew that he was filleted and murdered, and the sculpting of him portrays this well. Also, the sculptures atop the outside of the church were very impressive.

The Pantheon

Our class went to visit the Pantheon the other day. The pantheon is a roman catholic church that was originally a pagan temple for the gods of ancient Rome, and then was changed by the Romans in the 7th century. I had already been there and probably walk by it about 5 times a day, but I hadn't taken the time yet to learn about it and really check it out. When you approach the Pantheon, its massive size is very intimidating. It has huge pillars as you walk through the outside entrance, and when you walk in, its best to stop and just look around at amazing shape and detail of the architecture. It is the best preserved of all Roman buildings, and all buildings in the world of its age. It's also the oldest standing domed structure in Rome. The exact concrete composition that the Romans used in the dome is somewhat a mystery. If the concrete we use was today was used to construct an unreinforced dome of this size, it would barely be able to stand the load of its own weight. But the pantheon has been standing for hundreds of years, and one theory is because the concrete may have been applied in very small quantities and then was packed down after every application to remove excess water and trapped air bubbles. The most significant thing in the pantheon is probably the tomb of Raphael, a famous Italian artist and architect. Ironically, Raphael was born and died on Good Friday. He was buried in the Pantheon at his request.

The "Twin" Churches

Our class went on a walk on Friday to a couple different places that had to do with one of the books we are reading, and we ended in Piazza del Popolo. In this Piazza, there are two famous churches, Santa Maria di Montesanto and Santa Maria Di Mircoli right across from each other, often referred to as the "twin" churches for their extremely similar appearance. The main significant difference here is that Santa Maria Di Mircoli has a circular dome and Santa Maria di Montesanto has an oval dome. The architect Carlo Rainaldi designed Santa Maria di Montesanto this way in order to fit it in the narrower plot of land. the churches are beautiful from the outside and on the inside as well. They were built here under order of Pope Alexander VII during the Roman 17th century restoration.

The interior of the churches were beautiful. I took a few pictures of the parts that interested me most. To the side of the nave (main walkway of the church), part of the ceiling was constructed with a beautiful painting of a dove and stone sculptures of angels around it. It was absolutely
stunning. I could have stayed there for hours looking at it. Also, one of the tabernacles off to the side caught my because thought the use of color in the marble and the color of the paint used was very cool looking. I really liked a solid color statue of a nun holding a crucifix for its humbleness. I am intrigued with the continuous theme of death throughout many of the churches here. I included a picture in the slide show of what is very common in these churches. It is a painting off to the side of the nave of a person of importance with a tomb underneath it containing his body. The last thing in these churches I feel worth noting is the black marble used in the pillars and design of the church. It is odd for me to see so much darkness in a church; at home and in many churches here, dark colors I feel are avoided, most likely because of its orientation with death or evil.

Please look at the post below for pictures of the objects I just referenced.

Twin Churches Slide Show

Outside the Vatican

I was walking around with another student the other day, and she pointed to something and said is that the Vatican? I looked, and knowing that I was so close to my appartment, quickly said I don't think so because I don't think I that close to it. We then asked a street vendor what it was, and he laughed at us and said in Italian, "The Vatican!" Feeling so smart, we decided to walk overt to it and just look around right outside St. Peter's Square. I tried to take a few pictures, but I couldn't capture how it felt to be standing there, so I shot a quick video of the view we had. I have seen it twice thus far, and the feeling you get each time you are in indescribable. I have not ventured inside for a tour of anything, or seen the rest of Vatican City, but I obviously will soon.