"It's like a stage set, is it real?" that's my first memory of this church coming upon it floodlit from a nearby pizzeria. It must have been a favourite for film directors. Years later I have revisited and want to tell its fascinating story.
Baccio Pontelli (c1449-1494) was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV to design a church in 1482 dedicated to the Virgin Mary commemoratimng a miraculous image.It was always a cramped site in a popular area. There was no room for carriages to turn round and approach streets to each side were akwardly narrow. Something should be done. Pope Alexander VII wanted a new facade and better traffic circulation. Some buildings would have to go, so a small piazza could be created. Pietro de Cortona got the commission in 1656 and it was dedicated to Santa Maria della Pace to save Rome from plague and French invasion.
The result is like a theatre with the church facade as a stage set, the piazza the auditorium and the flanking houses the boxes and the side approaches like stage doors. The church itself has a short nave leading into an octagon with coffered dome. The facade of the church has a convex upper tier over a bold semicircular portico, just as Bernini was to use later at San Andrea al Quirinale. The big concave wings each side embrace the viewer like arms. This contrast of convex and concave is to be come a common feature of baroque architecture : something I have been aware of but never expressed. These protruding wings do not represent the width of the church. Instead they join the church to other buildings by linking their cornices and concealing other structures. The left one conceals a sacristy and oblique courtyard and the right crosses over a narrow street.
Internally Cortona gave the dome octagonal coffering and a series of ribs radiating from the lantern.
Perhaps most significantly, the family chapel of Pope Alexander III was decorated with frescos by Raphael.The Sybils of Cuma, Persia, Phyrigia and Tibur all receiving revelations from angels. Most visitors seemed unaware of these gems. But then Roman churches are so rich in great art : its all too much!
The Cesi Chapel contains fine High Renaissance sculpural decoration by Antonio da Sangallo the Youmger(1484-1546).
The high altar of 1614 was built by Carlo Maderna to contain the old icon of the Virgin Mary and child.
There is a fine cloister from c. 1500 by Bramante which I missed.
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