Santa Maria del Popolo
Categories: Churches of Rome | Raphael | Bernini | Renaissance art
Santa Maria del Popolo is a notable church located on the Piazza del Popolo in Rome.
In 1099, a chapel was built by Pope Paschal II to Our Lady, over a tomb of the Domitia family; since the people of Rome funded the building, the chapel received the name del Popolo ("of the people"). Other sources states that the "popolo" nickname stems from the Latin word populus, meaning "poplar" and probably referring to a tree located nearby. The chapel became a church by will of Pope Gregory IX, and given to the Augustinians, who held it until now, in the first half of 13th century.
Santa Maria del Popolo was reconstructed by Baccio Pontenelli and Andrea Bregno in 1472-1477, commissioned by the association of the Lombards of Rome, creating an excellent example of Italian Renaissance architecture. In 1655-60 the facade was modified by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who was asked by Pope Alexander VII to update the Renaissance church to a more modern Baroque style.
The church contains not only the Cerasi Chapel canvases of Caravaggio (Crucifixion of St. Peter and Conversion on the Way to Damascus) and an Assumption of the Virgin by Annibale Carracci, but also frescoes by Pinturicchio, sculptures by [[Andrea Bregno}} and Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Habacuc and the Angel and Daniel and the Lion), and the Chigi Chapel, drawn by Raffaello Sanzio.
Santa Maria del Popolo stands in one of the most famous squares of the city, next to one of the original gates of the Medieval Walls of Rome.
Hyacinthe Thiandoum held was Cardinal Priest of the Titulus S. Mariae de Populo until his death in 2004.
After Bernini's intervention, the church became a favourite site of burials of rich people of the city. Among the others, the banker Agostino Chigi and the Cardinal Savo Millini have their tombs here.
Dan Brown set here an episode of his novel Angels and Demons, and Thom Gunn wrote a poem about Caravaggio's Conversion, which he named after the church.
 Assumption of the Virgin Mary, by Annibale Carracci |
The conversion on the way to Damascus, by Caravaggio |
Crucifixion of St. Peter, by Caravaggio |
External links
- SM del Popolo: A Multimedia Presentation of the church and its setting, Australian National University
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