Santa Rosalia (Palestrina)
Santa Rosalia is a Roman Catholic church in Palestrina near Rome .
Location and use
The church is on Via Barberini in the city center of Palestrina, which today (2017) belongs to the metropolitan city of Rome . The church, built as a family chapel, is still privately owned today. It served as the burial place of important members of the Barberini family .
history
The church of Santa Rosalia was commissioned by Taddeo Barberini (1603–1647), head of the influential and wealthy Barberini family. The construction planning comes from the architect Francesco Contini (1599–1669). It was completed under Maffeo Barberini (1630–1685), the consecration took place on November 7, 1660. The patroness of the church, Rosalia , was the patron saint of the Prenestini , the inhabitants of Palestrina, during the plague epidemic of 1656.
Building description
Exterior view
The church with a double tower is indented between the flanking buildings of the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia and the Palazzo Barberini , with which it forms a semicircle. Inside the church, the tombs of Prince Taddeo Barberini (1603–1647) and Cardinal Antonio Barberini (1607–1671) were placed on both long sides at the beginning of the 18th century .
inner space
The interior of the church of Santa Rosalia follows a centrally oriented building program with a continuous cornice , multi-colored marble walls, a double ribbed vault, as well as multi-colored marble decorations and monumental sculptures in the choir . The Pietà group, known as the “Palestrina group”, was set up in a niche-like chapel behind the sacristy (where the tombs are kept). A later sculpture attributed to Michelangelo is now in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence .
Furnishing
In the design of the tombs - on the right that of Taddeo Barberini, on the left that of his brother Cardinal Antonio Barberini - the sculptor, who took over elements of the design from Bernini, mixed the geometric figures of the triangle (as a kind of pyramid in giallo antico , " antique gold marble “held and resting on lion's paws) and the circle (as a medallion in gray marble with busts of the deceased) to a composition that appears static in its concentration on the two portraits, but is animated by angel figures that point towards Antonio's tomb the epitaph seem to write and play the trumpet on Taddeo's tomb. They form typical baroque elements that are frozen at the moment of the action. The rich drapery , the tousled but harmonious curls of hair, wings and plumage in a detailed representation and the soft design of the figures - all this is connected with a lighting that sets highlights in the strictly geometric arrangement of the multicolored marble walls.
Web links
- Laura Indrio: Church of Santa Rosalia, funerary monuments to Prince Taddeo Barberini and Cardinal Antonio Barberini. In: Discover Baroque Art. Museum With No Frontiers, 2017, accessed January 24, 2017 .
Coordinates: 41 ° 50 ′ 26 ″ N , 12 ° 53 ′ 30 ″ E