San Lorenzo in Damaso
| San Lorenzo in Damaso
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| Denomination : | Roman Catholic |
| Patronage : | Lawrence of Rome |
| Rank: | Basilica minor |
| Cardinal priest : | Antonio María Rouco Varela |
| Address: | Piazza della Cancelleria 00186 Roma |
Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 48.7 " N , 12 ° 28 ′ 19.2" E
San Lorenzo in Damaso ( Latin : Sancti Laurentii in Damaso ) is a basilica and titular church in Rome consecrated to the Roman deacon and martyr Laurentius of Rome . The previous building from 380 was one of the oldest churches in Rome, but was demolished in the 15th century and replaced by the current church around 1497. This is included as a new building of a palace church in the huge Renaissance complex of the Palazzo della Cancelleria and has no external facade of its own .
Location and patronage
The church is in the VI. Roman Rione Parione between Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and Via del Pellegrino. A building inscription from the former apse of the early Christian church, which has been lost but has been handed down, says that Pope Damasus I (366–384) had a basilica built on the Marsfeld around 380 , which was originally consecrated to Christ . The building inscription in the form of a distich , ascribed to Pope Damasus, reads:
HAEC DAMASVS TIBI CHRISTE DEVS NOVA TECTA DICAVI / LAVRENTII SAEPIVS MARTYRIS AVXILIO (EX VNICO CODICE VIRDVNENSE)
(I, Damasus, have consecrated this new house to you Christ God, with the constant assistance of the martyr Laurentius - from the only Codex Veronensis ).
Because Damasus had especially encouraged the veneration of Laurentius as the most famous Roman martyr after Peter and Paul , the titular church was subsequently dedicated to St. Laurentius and known as Ecclesia sancti Laurentii in Damaso . This church building was the first church on the Field of Mars, which was privileged due to its proximity to the Theater of Pompey and its location on the famous Via Triumphalis . On the occasion of the church restoration under Pope Hadrian I (772–795), the name Titulus Damasi is used for the first time in the Liber Pontificalis .
Historical overview and description of the early Christian basilica
The early Christian church was located between today's Piazza della Cancelleria and the imperial buildings at the southern end of the Marsfeld, where the horse stables of the "chariot racing community of the Greens" ( stabula factionis prasinae = "Stables of the Green Team") had been located. A reference to this can be found in the full name of the church: Ecclesia sancti Laurentii in Damaso quae alio nome appellatur in prasino ( prasinus = green). Other names were Basilica S. Laurentii ad theatrum Pompeji or S. Laurentii in prasino .
According to the written sources, which agree with the results of the excavations (1988–1991), it was a three-aisled basilica (approx. 43 × 25 m), the central nave of which was separated from the extremely narrow side aisles by arcade- bearing pillars was. The apse in the west probably also followed the foundations of the ancient buildings. Between the façade in the east and the nave was a narthex , which opened up to the central nave with three arches. Its narrow sides had apses protruding north and south over the alignment of the aisles. The reason for this building-historical peculiarity could result from the inscription on the inner entrance wall, which no longer exists today :
ARCHIVIS FATEOR VOLVI NOVA CONDERE TECTA / ADDERE PRAETEREA DEXTRA LAEVAQVE COLVMNAS / QVAE DAMASI TENEAT PROPRIVM PER SAECVLA NOMEN
(I confess that I wanted to create a new shelter for the archives that for centuries bear the name of Damasus and add columns to the previous one on the right and left).
From this it is deduced that the archives of the Roman Church from the time before Damasus were housed in the right and left wings of the narthex. This archive remained there until the Scrinium Sanctum (Holy Shrine) was established in the Lateran in 649.
Most of the excavated wall remains today under the inner courtyard of the Palazzo della Cancelleria. The granite columns of the old basilica have been reused in the arcaded courtyard of the Cancelleria. During the excavations were u. a. Column bases, choir screens and marble incrustations found.
In the middle of the 8th century, the solemn transfer of the relics of the founding pope Damasus I took place, who until then had been buried in the basilica on Via Ardeatina. Restorations of the church took place under the Popes Hadrian I, Leo III. (795-816) and Stephan IX. (1057-1058).
With the construction of the Palazzo della Cancelleria from 1485 to 1513 by Cardinal Raffaele Riario , the titular of San Lorenzo in Damaso, the early Christian basilica was demolished and as a new building to the north of the previous location and at a higher level integrated into the palace so that the new Church disappears completely behind the uniform palace facade. The palazzo was the city's first Renaissance palace , designed and executed by Leon Battista Alberti . a. by Donato Bramante , with the wonderfully designed inner courtyard. The building complex extends over a whole square of streets and is about two meters above the previous level. Because the builder Raffaele Riario was also the title cardinal of San Giorgio in Velabro at the time, his new palace was initially called Palazzo di San Giorgio.
At the request of Cardinal Francesco Barberini , Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1638–1640) redesigned the presbytery of the palace church in the baroque style by creating the apse and the confessio . In February 1703, the inner courtyard of the church, damaged by an earthquake, was rebuilt by Cardinal Ottoboni , as evidenced by the inscription above the church entrance from the Cortile of the Palazzo della Cancelleria. On January 24, 1752, the day after his birth, the baptism of the composer and pianist Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) in the name of Mutius Philippus Vincentius Franciscus Xaverius took place in the basilica .
During the French occupation under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798, the church temporarily served as a horse stable, but was restored in 1807 by Giuseppe Valadier . He moved the presbytery forward by two arches, reduced the main nave to a rectangle and covered it with an arched vault . In 1849 the Canceleria was the seat of the Constituente, the constituent assembly before the proclamation of the Roman Republic. Even after Rome was incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy, the Cancelleria remained in papal possession. At the end of the 19th century, at the instigation of Pope Pius IX. (1846–1878) largely reduced their Renaissance furnishings. Virginio Vespignani removed many interventions by Valadier and Bernini between 1868 and 1882. Since 1929 the building has been part of the extra-territorial status of the Vatican and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site of the historic center of Rome with the sites of the Holy See.
The church underwent the last renovation in 1944 after a fire in the interior, whereby the large room of Giuseppe Valadier adjacent to the presbytery was removed. Today the church houses part of the Vatican Library next to the important institutions of the Curia in the Palazzo della Cancelleria.
Architectural drawings of the Cancelleria
Palazzo della Cancelleria from the west, engraving by Antonio Tempesta, 1593
Palazzo della Cancelleria from the southeast, engraving by Giuseppe Vasi, 1748
Palazzo della Cancelleria, engraving by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, 1770
The current state of the Cancelleria
Access to the courtyard
Window aedicula with the coat of arms of Cardinal Raffaele Riario
Portal of the palace church
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Architecture of the palace church
Today's church has the shape of a three-aisled basilica (48.60 × 34.40 m) with a flat-roofed central nave and groin vaults in the side aisles. Strong pillars support the arcade construction with six bays . The central nave has the same height as the piano nobile to give the nave space and breadth. "Many windows are symmetrical in the facade and in the courtyard, but asymmetrically in the church, as their travertine pillars reveal that the courtyard enjoyed absolute priority." The severe and monumental travertine facade of the Palazzo della Cancelleria is interrupted on the ground floor by two elegant portals . The smaller portal on the right leads to the church. The church building is no longer recognizable in the facade design, as in the similar case of the Basilica San Marco next to the Palazzo Venezia .
Interior design and equipment
The interior construction of the palace church at the end of the 15th century is u. a. Attributed to Donato Bramante as a possible early work in Rome. As with the Palazzo della Cancelleria, the builders can no longer be determined with certainty. The interior of the church today shows the structure of the late 15th century with the characteristic room dimensions and division with a transverse, two-aisled vestibule in the east, with arcades on five- bay square pilasters and ribbed vaults.
In the first cross aisle of the vestibule on the right is the Cappella Ruffo (A), which was rebuilt in 1743 for Cardinal Tommaso Ruffo . The altarpiece shows Mary with the child and the saints Philipp Neri and Nicholas of Bari . The frescoes in the vaulted ceiling depict God the Father with Nicholas of Bari and the four cardinal virtues . The side exit of the church to the left of the Ruffo Chapel leads to Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. On the left side of the first cross aisle is the Sacrament Chapel (B) with the Altarpiece 'The Last Supper' by Vincenzo Berrettini (1818).
On the pilaster opposite the entrance is the tomb of the Italian opera composer Giovanni Pacini (C). In the second cross aisle of the vestibule are the statues of St. Francis Xaverius (D) and Karl Borromeo (E) by Stefano Maderno from 1610. The portal on the left aisle wall (F) with decorated marble pilasters from the end of the 15th century leads to the inner courtyard of the Palazzo della Cancelleria.
In the high altar is the burial place of Pope Damasus I. A picture with a reference to his grave can still be found on the altar today. A project drawing (AN39944001) kept in the British Museum shows the design for the high altar of the church commissioned by Cardinal Ludovico Trevisan . L. Frommel assigns this project drawing to Leon Battista Alberti. The present canopy on four alabaster columns was created by Virginio Vespignani. The altarpiece with the coronation of Mary and the Saints Peter, Paul, Laurentius and Damasus was created for this church by Federico Zuccari .
Right aisle: The crucifix or Massimo chapel (G) was created in 1582 by merging three chapels. On the altar is a high quality wooden cross (H) from the 14th century Roman school. On the outside the tomb of Princess Maria Gabriella di Savoia Massimo (I), who died in 1837. Chapel Sacro Cuore (J): outside is the funerary monument of the Italian politician and diplomat Pellegrino Rossi (1854).
Left aisle: Pietro da Cortona and Giovanni Francesco Romanelli redesigned the chapel to the left of the presbytery (K) from 1635 to 1638 using Tuscan architectural forms. On the altar is an icon of the Mother of God from the 12th century, which was transferred here from the Chiesa di Santa Maria in Grottapinta in 1635. It is one of the six copies of the iconographic type of Hagiosoritissa (“from the holy shrine” of a St. Mary's church in Constantinople, in which Marian relics were kept), which has been documented since the 5th century and is also known as Maria Advocata (“Maria as Intercessor ") referred to as. The oldest “Maria Advocata” in Rome, which was probably created in the 6th century, was for a long time in the Church of San Sisto Vecchio and is venerated today in the Dominican Church of Santa Maria del Rosario on Monte Mario .
In the following side chapel are the grave monuments of Cardinal Ludovico Trevisan (L) from 1505 and the poet Annibale Caro (M) from 1566, which are ascribed to the school of Andrea Bregno .
Passage from the church to the colonnaded courtyard
Sacrament chapel (B)
Grave monument (L) for Cardinal Ludovico Trevisan Mezzarota Scarampo
Commemorative plaque for the reconstruction of the colonnaded courtyard in the Palazzo della Cancelleria, Rome
Icon of Mary, 12th century copy of the Maria Advocata
The history of the organs in San Lorenzo can be traced back to the 16th century. Today's organ was built in 1908 by the Balbiani-Vegezzi Bossi organ builder and electrified in 1979 by the Mascioni organ builder. The instrument has 20 stops on two manuals and a pedal .
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- Coupling: II / I, I / P, II / P, each also as super-octave coupling; I / I and II / II as super octave coupling
Cardinal priest
literature
- Mariano Armellini: Le Chiese di Roma dal secolo IV al XIX . Edizioni del Pasquino, Rome 1891.
- Hugo Brandenburg : The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2013, pp. 142f. and 318.
- Walther Buchowiecki : Handbook of the Churches of Rome. The Roman sacred building in history and art from early Christian times to the present . Volume 2, Hollinek, Vienna 1970, pp. 247-263.
- Christoph Luitpold Frommel : The architecture of the Renaissance in Italy. CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-58142-7 .
- Stefan Grundmann (ed.): Architectural Guide Rome . Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart / London 1997, ISBN 3-930698-59-5 , p. 122.
- Anton Henze u. a .: Art guide Rome . Reclam, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-15-010402-5 , p. 196.
- Simonetta Valtieri: La Basilica di S. Lorenzo in Damaso nel palazzo della Cancelleria a Roma, attraverso il suo archivio ritenuto scomparso . Rome 1984.
- Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum . Herder, Freiburg 2016, pp. 166–168.
Web links
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- Lexicon of saints
- Vatican Libraries
- Project drawing in the Department for Prints and Drawings, British Museum
- Church history
- Archives of Damasus
- Vicariate ( Memento from April 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ^ Hugo Brandenburg: The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century , Regensburg 2013, pp. 142f.
- ^ A b Walther Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome. The Roman sacred building in history and art from early Christian times to the present , Volume 2, Vienna 1970, p. 249.
- ↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian Sacred Buildings from the 4th to the 9th Century - Ein Vademecum , Freiburg 2016, p. 166f. with floor plans of the old basilica and today's church.
- ^ Mariano Armellini: Le Chiese di Roma dal secolo IV al XIX , Rome 1891, p. 374.
- ↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - Ein Vademecum , Freiburg 2016, p. 166ff.
- ↑ a b Stefan Grundmann: Architekturführer Rom, Stuttgart 1997, p. 122f.
- ^ Christoph L. Frommel: The architecture of the Renaissance in Italy.
- ↑ Francesco Caglioti: Sui primi tempi Romani d'Andrea Bregno: Un progetto per il Cardinale Camerlengo Alvise Trevisan (Art History Institute in Florence).
- ↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian Sacred Buildings from the 4th to the 9th Century - Ein Vademecum , Freiburg 2016, pp. 184f.
- ↑ Information on the organ (Italian).