SANTA MARIA IN TRASTEVERE

Basilica of Our Lady’s in Trastevere is a titular minor basilica, one of the oldest churches in Rome, perhaps the first in which mass was openly celebrated. The basic floor plan and wall structure of the church date back to the 340s AD.A Christian house-church was founded here about 220 by Pope Saint Callixtus I (217-222) on the site of the Taberna meritoria, an asylum for retired soldiers. The 22 granite columns with Ionic and Corinthian capitals that separate the nave from the aisles came from the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, as did the lintel of the entrance door.Inside the church are a number of late 13th-century mosaics by Pietro Cavallini on the subject of the Life of the Virgin (1291) centering on a “Corontation of the Virgin” in the apse. Domenichino’s octagonal ceiling painting, Assumption of the Virgin (1617) fits in the coffered ceiling setting that he designed.The church keeps a relic of Saint Apollonia, her head, as well as a portion of the Holy Sponge.
Info :
Ticket : free
Open : 7.30 – 13 am | 4 – 7 pm
Closed : never

Tagged as: Canvases, Domes, Frescoes, Mosaics, Sculptures, Vaults