Churches

Rome is a city of churches of literally every size. In addition there are a number of seminaries and eclesiatical institutions.

I didn't take many interior photographs of the churches as they first are places of worship and secondly contain artwork that can be damaged by camera flashes.


Santa Maria in Trastevere is one of the oldest churches in Rome and one the oldest in the world dedicated to St. Mary.













Here are displayed the Twelth Century mosaics behind Eighteenth Century statuary.




Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the major basilicas of the Roman Catholic Church. As such it holds the status of extrateritorial domain of the Vatican and gets treated like an embassy. Parts of the church date to the Fifth Century and consist of the true basilica format. This rear exterior is Baroque.





San Pietro in Vincoli or St. Peter's in Chains gets its name from the chains used to bind the saint and now displayed at the altar. The church also houses Michelangelo's statue, Moses, on the tomb of Pope Julius II.





San Paolo fuori le Mura or St. Paul's Outside the Walls serves as home of the tomb of the Apostle. It is "outside the wall" because burials were not allowed inside the city in ancient times.

The current structure is a Nineteenth Century reconstruction of the ancient basilica, which burned down in 1823, however the Thirteenth Century apse is original.





The courtyard at St. Paul's is original and incorporates these slender marble columns with mosaic inlays.









San Crisogono is in the Trastevere section of Rome across the street from the Casa di Dante.





These frescoes decorate the portico of Church of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura. This unusual building results from the combination of two churches. The structure also displays damage from the bombing of World War II.





This sarcophagus also sits out in the portico of San Lorenzo.



 
 

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Last updated August 28, 2005.