5 Churches and some Forums

When I left the Capitoline Museums after lunch the steady rain of the morning turned to intermittent rain in the afternoon. But it was still more on than off. To fill the dreary afternoon, I ducked into five different churches and peered at some ruins of forums along the way.

Four of the churches were recommended by the guidebook I’m using—St. Peters in Chains Church and a cluster of three churches near the Pantheon. In truth, the guidebook mentioned a fifth church in the cluster, but it has weird hours and, according to the guidebook, wouldn’t be open at a convenient time for me.

The fifth church I went into wasn’t recommended by the book, but when I passed it on the way between St. Peters in Chains and the cluster it looked interesting so I ducked in.

I’ll write about them in the order I saw them.

St. Peter in Chains Church

The interior of St. Peter in Chains Church, aka Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli, is a big, bright space. There’s a nice painting on the ceiling and some other decorative elements around.

There are also some tombs mounted on the walls. Two of them are adorned with sculpted skeletons. One tomb has a single skeleton, the other has two. I think they’re there to remind worshippers when they come in for services that, no matter how much they pray and no matter how devout and pure they are, one day they’ll look like that too. But maybe I’m wrong about the intent of the skeletons.

But none of that is what makes St. Peter in Chains Church worth particular note. What sets it apart is that it has a famous sculpture of Moses by Michelangelo in it.

Yeah, that Michelangelo. The guy who spawned countless cheesy (no pun intended) names for North American pizza parlours.

The sculpture was originally intended for the Tomb of Pope Julius II, but that tomb was never finished. And here the sculpture now is.

It’s hard to see, but Michelangelo’s Moses has horns. I zoomed in on just the Moses part of the piece (there are other figures as well). The horns are hard to make out in the picture. But they’re there.

I have to say that I’m not at all thrilled with the Moses with horns iconography, but there’s not a lot I can do about it.

The Imperial Forums

I passed and glanced at the Imperial Forums at least a couple of times before on just this trip, not to mention on previous trips. It’s hard not to if you’re a tourist in Rome.

They’re close to the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and Colosseum. So if you’re going to see the other sights in Rome, you’ll almost certainly pass by them at some point.

And they are right out there. The floors of the forums are about the equivalent of one level below the current street level. A sidewalk passes along the length of the forums so you can just peer over the railing and check them out for free. There are also some points where there are steps down to a platform about halfway to the floor of the forums., again for free.

You can also pay to go down to the floor and walk along a short path on it. I didn’t because, to be honest, there’s not a lot there, mostly just a lot of column stubs of various heights and a few low walls. I didn’t think it was worth going down.

The plural, forums, is accurate. There are a few adjacent forums built by different emperors. But in their current state, I can’t tell where one ends and another begins, so I don’t know how many there are.

The one exception to the “not much there” claim is Trajan’s Column. It’s a 140-foot column that was the focal point of the buildings built by Emperor Trajan. it looms over one end of the Imperial Forums.

Church of San Marcello al Corso

The Church of San Marcello al Corso, which was completed in 1697, is the one I went into on a whim. It has a handsome facade and a colourful, well-decorated, reasonably square-shaped interior. Gold and brown colours dominate, but there are also some paintings on the walls and ceiling. I’m glad I went in.

(All of the remaining churches I visited today, including this one, mostly melded together in my mind by the time I wrote this. I’m working primarily from my pictures. Don’t expect much.)

Churches Near the Pantheon

Church of Sant’Ignazio

Exterior of the Church of Sant'Ignazio (one of the churches near the Pantheon)
Exterior of the Church of Sant’Ignazio (one of the churches near the Pantheon)

I found the form of the interior of the Church of Sant’Ignazio to be fairly plain as beautiful old Italian churches go. But it has rich colours and a beautiful painting on the ceiling that’s nicely lit by the windows built into the base of the arched ceiling. There are also a couple of chapels with white sculpted figures that really pop. And in my totally non-art history lingo, I’d call the area behind the altar almost majestic.

The exterior also has a majestic look in my vocabulary. Then again, my vocabulary sucks.

So, all in all, a nice church, worth popping into, but not spectacular. However, other people’s opinions may vary in both directions on that.

Ceiling of the Church of Sant'Ignazio
Ceiling of the Church of Sant’Ignazio

Church of San Luigi del Francesi

The Church of San Luigi del Francesi is kind of special in at least one regard. One of its chapels has three large paintings by Caravaggio. Not surprisingly, they are of religious themes. Christ is involved.

Even beyond that, the church is quite attractive, with arches with gold-coloured designs on their underside. The ceiling also sports a lot of gold colour and a painting. The exterior wasn’t much to look at to my eye so I didn’t take a picture,

The other Caravaggio
The other Caravaggio

Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva

When I walked into the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, the bold colours arrested me without charge. The ceiling is blue and gold and there are big, shiny, grey and grey-veined columns.

This church has yet another Michelangelo statue. So that makes two Michelangelo statues in one day for me. Man, that Michelangelo dude was quite prolific, wasn’t he?

(UPDATE: After writing, but before posting this I read a comment on this morning’s post telling me that I was also under a Michelangelo-designed portico this morning. So that makes three Michelangelo works in one day.)

Although, the guidebook I’m using tells me it’s a little-known Michelangelo sculpture, Christ Bearing the Cross. I’m not surprised it’s little known. If Michelangelo were alive today and you asked him I’m sure he’d admit it was not his best work. I’ve seen Michelangelo’s David at least a couple of times. Compared to that, this statue seems rather rudimentary to me.

The statue has some sort of brown thing of unknown source and substance wrapped around one leg and covering Christ’s privates. It looks incongruous with the rest of the sculpture. I don’t know if it was added after the fact to preserve Christ’s modesty or if Michelangelo put that on. I’m guessing it was added. As I said, I’ve seen Michelangelo’s David. Michelangelo was not at all shy about depicting anatomically correct nudity. Then again, maybe he wanted to cover up Christ. I repeat, I don’t know.

So ends today. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? I haven’t decided yet.


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