Santa Maria sopra Minerva

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

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Santa Maria sopra Minerva

Santa Maria sopra Minerva is a basilica

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a ancient Rome public building , usually located in the Forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC....
church in

Churches of Rome

There are more than 900 Churches in Rome. Most, but not all, of these are Roman Catholic, with some notable Roman Catholic Marian churches....
Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
.

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Santa Maria sopra Minerva is a basilica

Basilica

Churches of Rome

There are more than 900 Churches in Rome. Most, but not all, of these are Roman Catholic, with some notable Roman Catholic Marian churches....
Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
. The church, located in the Piazza della Minerva

Piazza della Minerva

Piazza della Minerva is a square in Rome near the Pantheon, Rome. Its name derives from the existence of a temple built on the site by Pompey dedicated to Minerva, whose statue is now in the Vatican Museums....
in the Campus Martius

Campus Martius

The Campus Martius , was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about 2 km? in extent. In the Middle Ages it was the most populous area of Rome....
region, is considered the only Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late Middle Ages. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
church in Rome, and is the city's principal Dominican

Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France....
church.

The basilica gets its name because, like many early Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism#Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament....
basilicas, it was built directly over (sopra) the foundations of a temple dedicated to the goddess Minerva

Minerva

Minerva was the Roman mythology name of Greek goddess Athena. She was considered to be the virgin goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving,crafts, and the inventor of music....
. Behind a self-effacing facade, its arched vaulting is painted with brilliant red ribbing, and blue with gilded stars, a 19th century restoration in the Gothic taste. The basilica is located on the small piazza Minerva close to the Pantheon

Pantheon, Rome

The Pantheon is a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt circa 126 AD during Hadrian's reign....
, in the rione
Rione

Rione is the name given to a ward in several Italian cities, the best-known of which is rioni of Rome. Unlike a quartiere, a rione is usually an official administrative subdivision....
Pigna

Pigna (rione of Rome)

Pigna is the name of rioni of Rome IX of Rome. The name means "pine cone" in Italian language, and the symbol for the rione is the colossal bronze Conifer cone, the Pigna, which decorated a fountain in Ancient Rome next to a vast Temple of Isis....
.

History

Details of the ruined temple to Minerva, built by Pompey

Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, commonly known as Pompey /'p?mpi/, Pompey the Great or Pompey the Triumvir , was a distinguished military and political leader of the late Roman Republic....
about 50 B.C., referred to as Delubrum Minervae, are not known. A temple to Isis

ISIS

ISIS is an industry standard interface for technologies, developed by Pixel Translations in 1990 .ISIS is an open standard for scanner control and a complete image-processing framework....
and a Serapeum

Serapeum

A Serapeum is a temple or other religious institution dedicated to the syncretism Hellenistic civilization-Ancient Egypt god Serapis, who combined aspects of Osiris and Apis in a humanized form that was palatable to the Ptolemaic dynasty of Alexandria....
may also underlie the present basilica and its former convent buildings, for in 1665 an Egypt

Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
ian obelisk

Obelisk

An obelisk An Obelisks is a tall, narrow, four-sided, tapering monument which ends in a pyramid like shape at the top. Ancient obelisks were made of a single piece of stone, a monolith; however, most modern obelisks are made of individual stones, and can even have interior spaces....
was found, buried in the garden of the Dominican cloister adjacent to the church. There are other Roman survivals in the crypt

Crypt

In terms of European architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a church usually used as a chapel or burial vault possibly containing sarcophagus, coffins or relics....
. The ruined temple is likely to have lasted until the reign of Pope Zachary

Pope Zachary

Saint Zachary , pope . He came from a Greek people family of Calabria. Most probably he was a deacon of the Roman Church and as such signed the decrees of the Roman council of 732; and was on intimate terms with Pope Gregory III, whom he succeeded in December 10 741....
(741-752), who finally Christianized the site

Christianization

The historical phenomenon of Christianization, the religious conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once, also includes the practice of converting native Paganism practices and culture, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar to Christian uses, due to the Christian efforts at Ch...
, offering it to Eastern monks. The structure he commissioned has disappeared. The present building owes its existence to the Dominican Friars

Dominican Order

Pope Alexander IV

Pope Alexander IV was Pope from 1254 until his death.Born as Rinaldo di Jenne, a native of Jenne, Italy, near Anagni, he was, on his mother's side, a member of the de' Conti di Segni family, the counts of Segni, like Pope Innocent III and Pope Gregory IX ....
(1254-1261) and made the church and adjoining monastery their headquarters before later establishing it in Santa Sabina

Santa Sabina

The Basilica of Saint Sabina at the Aventine is a titular minor basilica and mother church of the Roman Catholic Dominican order in Rome, Italy....
. The Dominican Order still administers the area today.

Two talented Dominican friars, Fra Sisto Fiorentino and Fra Ristoro da Campi, who had worked on the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence

Florence

Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
, began the present structure in 1280, during the pontificate of Nicholas III. With the help of funds contributed by Boniface VIII, this first Gothic church in Rome was completed in 1370. It was renovated by Carlo Maderno

Carlo Maderno

Carlo Maderno was an Italy-Switzerland architect, born in Ticino, who is remembered as one of the fathers of Baroque architecture. His fa?ades of Santa Susanna, St....
and others, given a Baroque

Baroque

In the the arts, the Baroque was a Western cultural Epoch , starting roughly at the beginning of the 17th century in Rome, Italy. It was exemplified by drama and grandeur in Baroque sculpture, Baroque painting, literature, Baroque dance, and Baroque music....
facade, then restored in the 19th century to its present neo-medieval state. The gates are from the 15th century.

Saint Catherine of Siena

Catherine of Siena

Saint Catherine of Siena, Ordo Praedicatorum was a Tertiaries of the Dominican Order, and a Scholasticism philosopher and theologian. She also worked to bring the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon Papacy, and to establish peace among the Italian city-states....
is buried here (except her head, which is in the church of San Domenico in Siena

Siena

Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site....
). Beyond the sacristy, the room where she died in 1380 was reconstructed here by Antonio Cardinal Barberini

Barberini

The Barberini are a family of the Italian people nobility that rose to prominence in 17th century Rome. Their influence peaked with the election of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini to the papal throne in 1623, as Pope Urban VIII....
in 1637. This room is the first transplanted interior, and the progenitor of familiar 19th and 20th century museum "period rooms." The fresco

Fresco

Fresco is any of several related painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Italian word affresco which derives from the adjective fresco , which has Latin origins....
es by Antoniazzo Romano

Antoniazzo Romano

Antoniazzo Romano, born Antonio di Benedetto Aquilo degli Aquili was an Italy Renaissance painter, the leading figure of the Roman school during the 15th century....
that decorated the original walls, however, are now lost.

The famous early Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe....
painter Fra Angelico

Fra Angelico

Fra Angelico , born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter, referred to in Vasari's Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent"....
died in the adjoining convent, and is buried here also, as is Pope Paul IV

Pope Paul IV

Pope Paul IV , n? Giovanni Pietro Carafa, was Pope from May 23, 1555 until his death.Giovanni Pietro Carafa was born in Capriglia Irpina, near Avellino, into a prominent noble family of Naples....
and the Medici

Medici

The M?dici family was a powerful and influential Florence family from the 14th to 18th century. The family had three popes , numerous rulers of Florence and later members of the French and English royalty....
popes Leo X and Clement VII. Before the construction of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini

San Giovanni dei Fiorentini

San Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini is a church in Rome on Via Giulia in rione Ponte ....
, the Minerva was the church of the Florentine nation

Nation

A nation is a cultural and social community. In as much as most members never meet each other, yet feel a common bond, it may be considered an imagined community....
, and therefore it houses numerous tombs of prelates, nobles and citizens coming from that Tuscan

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of and a population of about 3.6 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.Tuscany is known for its landscapes and its artistic legacy....
city. Curiously, Diotisalvi Neroni

Diotisalvi Neroni

Diotisalvi Neroni was an Italy politician....
, a refugee who had taken part in the plot against Piero de' Medici

Piero de' Medici

Piero de' Medici may refer to:*Piero di Cosimo de' Medici , father of Lorenzo the Magnificent*Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici , son of Lorenzo the Magnificent...
, was buried here in 1482, and was later joined by other members of the family. Also buried here are Latino Malabranca Orsini

Latino Malabranca Orsini

Latino Malabranca Orsini was an Italian Cardinal-nephew of Pope Nicholas III.He was son of Roman senator Angelo Malabranca and Mabilia Orsini, sister of Pope Nicholas III....
, Michel Mazarin (Archbishop of Aix), and Pope Urban VII

Pope Urban VII

Pope Urban VII , born Giovanni Battista Castagna, was Pope for thirteen days in September 1590. He was of Genoa origin, although born in Rome....
.

The sacristy was the seat of two conclave

Papal conclave

A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals to elect the pope, or Bishop of Rome, who is considered by Catholics to be the Apostolic Succession of Saint Peter and earthly head of the Catholic Church....
s. The first, held in the March 1431, elected Pope Eugene IV

Pope Eugene IV

Pope Eugene IV , born Gabriele Condulmer, was Pope from March 3, 1431, to his death....
, the second, in March 1447, Pope Nicholas V

Pope Nicholas V

Pope Nicholas V , born Tommaso Parentucelli, was Pope from March 6, 1447 to his death in 1455....
.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance Painting, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer....
's Christ the Redeemer
Cristo della Minerva

The Cristo della Minerva, also known as Christ the Redeemer or Christ Carrying the Cross, is a marble sculpture by the Italy High Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti, finished in 1521....
sculpture is housed here.

The current Cardinal Priest

Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior Ecclesiology official, usually a Bishop , of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope....
of the Titulus S. Mariae supra Minervam is English

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor

Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor

Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, is a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, the Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales....
.

Minerva's Pulcino

In front of the church there is one of the most curious monuments of Rome, the so-called Pulcino della Minerva. It is a statue designed by the Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini was a pre-eminent Baroque sculpture and architect of 17th Century Rome....
(and carried out by his pupil Ercole Ferrata

Ercole Ferrata

Ercole Ferrata was an Italy sculpture of the Roman Baroque....
in 1667) of an elephant as the supporting base for the Egyptian obelisk found in the Dominicans' garden. It is the shortest of the eleven Egyptian obelisks in Rome

Obelisks in Rome

There are eight ancient Egyptian and five ancient Rome obelisks in Rome, together with a number of more modern obelisks; there was also formerly an Kingdom of Aksum obelisk in Rome....
and is said to have been one of two obelisks moved from Sais, where they were built during the 589 BC-570 BC reign of the pharaoh Apries

Apries

Apries is the name by which Herodotus and Diodorus designate Wahibre Haibre, ??af??? , a pharaoh of Egypt , the fourth king of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt....
, from the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt

Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt was the last native dynasty to rule Ancient Egypt before the History of Persian Egypt in 525 BC Before Christ ....
. The two obelisks were brought to Rome by Diocletian

Diocletian

Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus , born Diocles and commonly known as Diocletian , was Roman Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305....
, during his reign as emperor from 284 to 305, for placement at the Temple of Isis which stood nearby. The Latin inscription on the base, chosen by the pope who commissioned the sculpture to support the obelisk found on the site, Alexander VII, is said to represent that "...a strong mind is needed to support a solid knowledge".

The inspiration for the unusual composition came from Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili is a romance by Francesco Colonna and a famous example of early printing. First published in Venice, 1499, in an elegant page layout, with refined woodcut illustrations in an Early Renaissance style, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili presents a mysterious arcane allegory in which Poliphilo pursues his love Polia thr...
("Poliphilo's Dream of the Strife of Love"), an unusual 15th century novel probably by Francesco Colonna

Francesco Colonna

Francesco Colonna , was an Italy Dominican Order priest and monk who was credited with the authorship of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili by an acrostic in the text....
. The novel's main character meets an elephant made of stone carrying an obelisk, and the accompanying woodcut in the book is quite similar to Bernini's design for the base for the obelisk. The curious placement of the obelisk through the body of the elephant is identical.

The sturdy appearance of the structure earned it the popular nickname of "Porcino" ("Piggy") for a while. The name for the structure eventually changed to Pulcino, the Italian for a small or little "chick". This may have been a reference to the comparatively short height of the obelisk or, an obscure reference to the major charity of the Dominicans to assist young women needing dowries, who made a procession in the courtyard every year. The latter were once depicted in a local painting as three tiny figures with the Virgin Mary presenting purses to them.

Major artworks

Aldobrandini Chapel, by Carlo Maderno
Carlo Maderno

Carlo Maderno was an Italy-Switzerland architect, born in Ticino, who is remembered as one of the fathers of Baroque architecture. His fa?ades of Santa Susanna, St....
, Giacomo della Porta
Giacomo della Porta

Giacomo della Porta was an Italy architect and sculptor, who worked for many important buildings in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica. He was born at Porlezza, Lombardy....
and Girolamo Rainaldi
Girolamo Rainaldi

Girolamo Rainaldi was an Italy architect who worked on the whole in a conservative Mannerism, often with collaborating architects, yet was a successful competitor of Gian Lorenzo Bernini....
Carafa Chapel with frescoes by Filippino Lippi
Filippino Lippi

Filippino Lippi was a well-known painter working during the High Renaissance in Florence, Italy....
Christ the Redeemer
Cristo della Minerva

The Cristo della Minerva, also known as Christ the Redeemer or Christ Carrying the Cross, is a marble sculpture by the Italy High Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti, finished in 1521....
(1521) by Michelangelo
Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance Painting, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer....
Annunciation (1485), by Antoniazzo Romano
Antoniazzo Romano

Antoniazzo Romano, born Antonio di Benedetto Aquilo degli Aquili was an Italy Renaissance painter, the leading figure of the Roman school during the 15th century....
- shows Cardinal

Juan de Torquemada

Juan de Torquemada (Cardinal)

Juan de Torquemada , or rather Johannes de Turrecremata, Spanish ecclesiastic, was born at Valladolid, and was educated in that city.At an early age he joined the Dominican Order, and soon distinguished himself for learning and devotion....
OP presenting girls who received a dowry

Dowry

A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings to her new husband. Compare bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage....
by his Guild of the Annunciation to the Virgin

The tombs of the Popes Leo X and Clement VII by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger
Antonio da Sangallo the Younger

Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, born Antonio Cordiani was an Italy architect active during the Italian Renaissance....
.
Tomb of Paulus IV by Pirro Ligorio
Pirro Ligorio

Pirro Ligorio was an Italian people architect, painter, antiquarian and garden designer....
(1559)
Tomb of Urban VII
Tomb of Beato Angelico, by Isaia da Pisa (1455)
Tomb of Guillaume Durand
Guillaume Durand

Guillaume Durand also known as Durandus, Duranti or Durantis, from the Italian form of Durandi filius, as he sometimes signed himself, was a France canonist and liturgical writer, and Bishop of Mende....
the Elder, bishop on Mende, signed by Giovanni di Cosma (1296)
Memorial to Maria Raggi, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini was a pre-eminent Baroque sculpture and architect of 17th Century Rome....
(1643)
Tomb of Francesco Tornabuoni (1480), one of the best works by Mino da Fiesole
Mino da Fiesole

Mino da Fiesole was an Italy sculptor from Poppi, Tuscany. He is noted for his portrait busts. His work was influenced by his master Desiderio da Settignano and by Antonio Rossellino, and is characterized by its sharp, angular treatment of drapery....

Other churches with this name

In Assisi

Assisi

Assisi , is a town in Italy in province of Perugia, Italy, in the Umbria Regions of Italy, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is the birthplace of St Francis of Assisi, who founded the Franciscan religious order in the town in 1208, and Clare of Assisi , the founder of the Poor Clares....
, another church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva was built in the 16th century within the surviving cella

Cella

A cella or naos , is the inner chamber of a temple in classical architecture, or a shop facing the street in domestic Roman architecture ....
of a late Republican temple of Minerva. Its Corinthian

Corinthian order

The Corinthian order is one of the Classical orders of Greece and Rome architecture, characterized by a slender Fluting column and an ornate capital decorated with acanthus leaves and scrolls....
portico still stands.

List of cardinals from Santa Maria sopra Minerva

1861-1864 Gaetano Cardinal Bedini
Gaetano Bedini

Gaetano Bedini was an Italian ecclesiastical, Cardinal and diplomat of the Catholic Church....
1868-1870 Matteo Eustachio Cardinal Gonella
1875-1885 John Cardinal McCloskey
1887-1894 Zeferino Cardinal González y Díaz Tuñón
Zeferino González y Díaz Tuñón

Zeferino Gonz?lez was a Spanish Dominican Order theologian, and philosopher, Archbishop of Seville and Cardinal ....
, O.P.
1895-1896 Egidio Cardinal Mauri O.P.
1896-1909 Serafino Cardinal Cretoni
Serafino Cretoni

Serafino Cardinal Cretoni was an Italy prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Congregation of Rites from 1903 until his death, and was elevated to the Cardinal in 1896....
1911-1918 John Cardinal Farley
1919-1922 Teodoro Cardinal Valfre di Bonzo
1922-1926 Stanislas-Arthur-Xavier Cardinal Touchet
Stanislas Touchet

Stanislas-Arthur-Xavier Cardinal Touchet was a France prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishopric of Orl?ans from 1894 until his death, and was elevated to the Cardinal in 1922....
1926-1929 Giuseppe Cardinal Gamba
Giuseppe Gamba

His Eminence Giuseppe Cardinal Gamba was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and was former Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Turin.Giuseppe Gamba was born in Asti, Italy and was educated at the local Seminary of Asti....
1930-1938 Giulio Cardinal Serafini
Giulio Serafini

His Eminence Giulio Cardinal Serafini Doctor of Canon and Civil Law was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and was former Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts....
1939-1946 Eugène Cardinal Tisserant
1946-1965 Clemente Cardinal Micara
Clemente Micara

Clemente Cardinal Micara was an Italy prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Cardinal Vicar from 1951 until his death, and was elevated to the Cardinal in 1946....
1967-1974 Antonio Cardinal Samoré
1976-1977 Dino Cardinal Staffa
1979-1998 Anastasio Cardinal Ballestrero
2001- Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor.

External links

: Bernini's elephant and its Roman nickname