Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Basic data
Patronage : St. New Year and
St. Martin
Consecration day :
Cardinal priest : Kazimierz Nycz
Address: Viale del Monte Oppio, 28
00184 Roma
The facade

The Basilica of Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti ( Latin : Sanctorum Silvestri et Martini in Montibus ), more common San Martino ai Monti , is a church in Rome . It has the rank of a minor basilica and is also the titular church of the Roman Catholic Church . It is also a parish church and a monastery church of the Discalced Carmelites . It was built over one of the oldest Christian places of worship in Rome and contains some important frescoes.

location

The church is located in the 1st Roman Rione Monti about 600 meters northeast of the Colosseum . It is located on the Mons Oppius , the southern foothills of the Esquiline . From this location it got its nickname ai monti .

History and building history

The core of the complex is an early Christian house church from the 3rd century. It is not entirely clear how this building is related to the very old Titulus Silvestri , also called Titulus Equitii , located here . Pope Silvester I had a new church built over this building in the following 4th century, this building was followed by another building in the early 6th century; it was built under Pope Symmachus . He also dedicated the church to the two saints, whose names the church has borne ever since. The basic structural structure that is still recognizable today was ultimately given to the building in the Carolingian era; in the takeover of the Carolingian renovatio it stands in a row with other buildings such as Santi Quattro Coronati or San Giorgio in Velabro . The work began around 847 under Pope Sergius II and was completed under the pontificate of Pope Leo IV. The interior of the church owes its present-day design to renewed Baroque construction measures from around 1650. The builder was Pietro da Cortona . The facade was completed in 1676, only the magnificent wooden coffered ceiling in the interior of the church is younger; it originated in the late 18th century.

Exterior view of the apse with the Carolingian brick masonry

Facade and exterior view

The facade is initially two-story and five-axis structured. The two outer axes are almost unadorned in terms of the design of the surface, only a small transverse oval window on the lower floor and a larger simple one, each covered with a relief, flanked by two small windows on the upper floor, break through the wall. The inner three axes are structured with a two-tiered program of pilasters and cornices. In the wall surfaces of the two axes to the side of the main axis, reliefs of the church cartridge are inserted on the lower floor; on the upper floor the surfaces contain the attributes of the two saints. The entrance is designed as an aedicule portal , the upper floor contains a round arched window with an openwork segmented gable. The simple triangular gable of the facade is broken through again by a transverse oval window.

On the back of the church, the typically Carolingian massive brick wall style of the apse is striking, the choir stands on ancient Roman foundations, and ancient tuff stone masonry can also be seen in the right outer wall .

Interior and outfit

View into the central nave

Even if the church was fully equipped in the Baroque, the Carolingian basic structure can be read from the proportions of the interior. The high and wide central nave is separated from the side aisles by a row of columns. The 24 columns with Corinthian capitals used for this are antique. They support the straight architrave , above which the high walls are richly structured. Between the fluted pilasters there are alternately painted window caves with architectural representations and above these round reliefs and the windows with the small balustrades (so-called corretti ). The middle windows also contain flanking columns. Finally, the third type of wall design are niches with figures of saints. The wide apse is illuminated by side windows.

Two side staircases lead to the high altar , which stands above the early Christian church, which is included as a Confessio . The tabernacle is also a work by da Cortona.

The church is significant in terms of art history because of its frescoes . The frescoes in the right aisle were done by Gaspare Dughet , a student of Nicolas Poussin . They actually represent a religious theme, the life of the prophet Elias , but are best known for their depictions of landscapes. These are the first independent representations of landscapes, here the idealized Campagna Romana , in a Roman church.

The left aisle contains three large frescoes from the 16th century by an unknown hand, which show the interiors of St. Peter's Basilica and the Lateran Basilica ( San Giovanni in Laterano ) as they were at the time. For the latter representation, however, doubts have arisen about the documentary value of the fresco.

In the crypt are the relics of the saints venerated here. In it and in the early Christian house church, remains of mosaics and frescoes from the 6th to 9th centuries can be seen.

A small reliquary box was found on the site of the church. It dates from the 4th century and is one of the very rare traditional goldsmith works of antiquity. It is a silver shrine with gilding, according to the inscription donated as a gift for the wedding of a patrician Proiekta with her Secundus . It is now in the British Museum in London .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : San Martino ai Monti  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Wundram (Ed.): Reclams Kunstführer , p. 248.
  2. ↑ a b c Wundram (Ed.): Reclams Kunstführer , p. 250.
  3. ^ Rosendorfer: Kirchenführer Rom , p. 193.
  4. ↑ a b Grundmann (Ed.): Architekturführer Rom , S. 87.
  5. ↑ a b Wundram (Ed.): Reclams Kunstführer , p. 249.
  6. ^ Rosendorfer: Kirchenführer Rom , pp. 193/184.
  7. ^ Rosendorfer: Kirchenführer Rom , p. 194.
  8. ↑ a b Bussagli (Ed.): Rom - Art & Architecture , p. 298.

Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 40.5 "  N , 12 ° 29 ′ 53.7"  E