Santo Spirito in Sassia
Santo Spirito in Sassia is a former hospice in Rome. It was one of the largest medieval hospitals and an important research facility for the medical sciences and pharmacy of the early modern period.
location
The building complex on the right bank of the Tiber is located on a spacious three-sided plot of land, which is enclosed by the streets Lungotevere in Sassia , Borgo Santo Spirito , Via de 'Penitenzi and Via di Porta S. Spirito as well as the Piazza della Rovere . In addition to the church of the same name "Santo Spirito in Sassia" with a campanile from the early Renaissance, it includes the Conservatorio delle Zitelle , the Palazzo del Commendatore , the Corsia Sistiana , a hospital room built under Sixtus IV , the Sala Alessandrina , which is now the Museo Storico dell'Arte Sanitaria is housed, as well as several courtyards, fountains and smaller outbuildings.
history
The hospital is one of the earliest charitable institutions in Rome. It emerged from a foundation of King Ine von Sassia ( Sassia "Sachsenland", Wessex ). Ine, like one of his predecessors, Caedwalla , King of Wessex, had embarked on a pilgrimage to Rome after leaving office. With the consent of Pope Gregory II, Ine is said to have built a house and a chapel for English compatriots who constantly lived near the tomb of Peter . This facility on the western bank of the Tiber was called Schola Saxonum or Burgus Saxonum , which is where the name of this district (Italian: Rioni ) “ Borgo ” comes from. In the vicinity of the Schola Saxonum were similar institutions of other ethnic groups such as the Franks and the Frisians, whose national church San Michele e Magno is still in the immediate vicinity of Santo Spirito, or the Armenians and the Hungarians. The hospice for the English pilgrims founded by Ine around 727/728 also included a church, to which he donated an icon of the Madonna, which is why it was initially called S. Maria in Saxia, and in which Ine was buried after his death in 728.
In the 11th and 12th centuries, Rome and the hospital complex founded by Ine experienced a decline. Especially in the course of the Norman invasion, the number of English pilgrims fell sharply. The hospice even fell victim to fires several times and fell into disrepair, so that the original appearance can no longer be reconstructed today. Not until Innocent III. , who energetically promoted the consolidation of papal power and the position of Rome in Europe at that time, took on the run-down hospice. In 1198, according to Giorgio Vasari, he had the hospital and church of Marchionne d'Arezzo rebuilt. On December 12, 1202, he gave Guido von Montpellier and the hospital community of the Hospitallers of the Holy Spirit founded by him the church "Santa Maria in Saxia" including the associated hospice for the English pilgrims and endowed them with far-reaching benefits and privileges.
The church and hospital were now called "Santo Spirito in Sassia" and Arco-ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia . The purpose of the hospital was to care for the sick, to support the poor, and to care for and care for foundlings .
The exile of the Popes in Avignon from 1309 to 1376 had a negative impact on the financial contributions guaranteed by the Curia , the operation was now financed solely by the Order; there was a renewed decline of the hospice. Only Eugene IV and, above all, Sixtus IV took care of the hospice again, the papal privileges and privileges were confirmed and expanded under both popes and both took the hospital under their care. On January 23, 1477, Sixtus proclaimed that Santo Spirito di Sassia would be directly subordinate to the Pontifex Maximus .
Banco di Santo Spirito
In 1605 , Pope Paul V set up the Banco di Santo Spirito , the first bank ever to be founded in Rome, to manage the donations and legacies that flowed to the hospital and to secure the financing of rising operating costs . The curia entered the professional banking business for the first time in its history. The bank introduced coupon issuance , an innovation that would quickly spread across the industry. The so-called Luoghi di monte , which in principle corresponded to modern bank bonds , were guaranteed by the assets of Santo Spirito . The bank Santo Spirito has now been able to finance complex building projects for the curia, such as the development of a new drinking water supply from Lake Bracciano, as well as private projects for the Roman noble families. In 1667 the seat of the bank was moved to the papal mint (Zecca) . In 1811 the French administration closed the bank; however, it was able to resume business in the middle of the century and in 1992 merged with other Roman banks to form Banca di Roma SpA
The Corsia Sistina
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With the Corsia Sistina, “Santo Spirito” was given a modern new building between 1473 and 1478, in which all the current knowledge of nursing was realized. The hospital was built on the remains of the medieval hospice. It is believed that Baccio Pontelli , the renowned Florentine fortress builder and court architect of Sixtus IV, contributed to the design. The structure, consisting of two wings of about the same size, symmetrically connected to the tiburium , is 120 meters long, 12 meters wide and 13.3 meters high. The halls are named after Giorgio Baglivi and Giovanni Maria Lancisi , two doctors from the 17th and 18th centuries who worked at the hospital.
The "Tiburium", a tall, column-supported, octagonal central building, on the upper floor of which alternately bi- and triforium windows open, is a sacred building. It houses the elaborate ciborium made of colored marble with the San Giobbe Altar (Altar of St. Job) with a painting by Carlo Maratta . The arcades of the basement open to the side rooms and allow the patients a view of the altar.
For hygienic reasons, the walls up to the skylight windows were painted white, while important events from the history of the hospital and the life of the two founders, Popes Innocent and Sixtus, are depicted in the picture frieze in the window zone. At the head of the Sala Lancisi a window opens to the Spezeria , the pharmacy, through which the treating doctors could monitor the nursing staff and the patients.
Two portals lead into the hospice, one in the portico on the Tiber side and the magnificent main portal made of fine stone carving opposite the tiburium, which is attributed to Andrea Bregno . In the lunette, two cupids present the coat of arms of Pope Sixtus IV. To the left of the portal is the Ruota degli esposti , a baby flap in which foundlings could be deposited who were housed in an orphanage attached to the hospital. In the box next to it, donations could be deposited “for the poor abandoned” children.
Sala Alessandrina
The Sala Alessandrina is a single-storey hall building with a portico in front , which is structured with pilasters and round arches. Opposite the main entrance there is access to the vestibule of Corsia Sistina . It was built between 1665 and 1667 and extensively restored in 1931 after the urban redesign of the banks of the Tiber at the beginning of the 20th century.
The sala now houses a medical history museum, the Museo Storico dell'Arte Sanitaria . Surgical tools from the 16th to 19th centuries, instruments of Arabic origin, anatomical teaching panels that were made under the direction of one of the most important anatomists of the 18th century, Paolo Mascagni (1755–1815), and wax models that are presumably made by the Sculptor and medalist Luigi Manfredini (1771-1840) were made.
Palazzo del Commendatore and Conservatorio delle Zitelle
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As an extension of the hospital, the presidential palace and the adjoining Conservatorio delle Zitelle , the home of the orphans, were built in the 17th century at the instigation of Commendatore Bernardino Corillo († 1575) . The palace encloses a square inner courtyard with five-axis double loggias in a Doric and Ionic order. Opposite the main portal, the central axis is emphasized by a fountain and a clock on the top floor. The fountain, a foundation of Pope Paul IV, was initially installed in the Vatican palace; under Alexander VII he was transferred to Santo Spirito. The unusual clock with a six-digit dial and a salamander as the only hand is emphasized by a cardinal's hat , the coat of arms of the order and the della Rovere and by the dove of the Holy Spirit , the namesake for the hospital.
In the staircase of the loggias, a relief by Antonio Canova is reminiscent of the former Teatro Anatomico , the anatomy lecture hall in which Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci are said to have carried out anatomical studies. It shows doctors and students dissecting a corpse.
The orphan girls were housed in the Conservatorio delle Zittelle (zittella , it. = Virgin), as were the wet nurses who raised the abandoned babies. The building on a rectangular floor plan encloses a cloister-like inner courtyard with a fountain.
The salon
The former representative rooms of the palace are lavishly furnished with tapestries, sculptures, oil paintings and frescoes. Brothers Francesco and Jacopo Zucchi painted the ballroom with frescoes that tell the story of the hospital. Among the paintings is a Madonna and Child by Andrea del Verrocchio .
The Biblioteca Lancisiana
The Biblioteca Lancisiana in the Palazzo del Commendatore is considered to be one of the most important collections of historical medical writings. During Pentecost, on May 21, 1714, the library was opened by Pope Clement XI. Inaugurated in Rome after three years of preparation by the Pope's personal physician, Giovanni Maria Lancisi , in the presence of the high clergy and representatives from culture and science. On April 25 of the following year, the Accademia di Medicina e Chirurgia was founded there. The library quickly developed into a recognized research center, especially for the treatment of malaria , which was rampant in Italy at the time . In addition to the specialist library, Lancisis donations from Ludwig XIV. , Cosimo III. de 'Medici and the Fürstenbergs . Two parchment codices of Avicenna's writings in Latin are particularly valuable .
The Santo Spirito Church in Sassia
Sixtus IV had a new church built around 1470–1475, from which the campanile ascribed to Baccio Pontelli has been preserved. 1538, under Paul III. , in the course of his urban renewal of Rome, the renewed construction according to plans by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder began. J. The facade was only completed by Ottaviano Mascherino under Sixtus V.
In the flatly structured facade , a two-storey temple front with a monumental aedicula and a high extension with volute braces as the second storey, ancient designs and arrangements are combined to form a harmonious, new solution. The Pope's coat of arms is attached above the round window of the extract, and in the gable is a flat relief with the dove of the Holy Spirit in a halo .
The five-bay hall with five side chapels has a recessed presbytery with a semicircular apse. It is distinguished by its precious mannerist furnishings from the 16th century. The frescoes in the apse are by Jacopo Zucchi .
In 1991, Pope John Paul II elevated the church to a title diakonia. The first cardinal deacon was Fiorenzo Angelini . Since 2015 it has been Dominique Cardinal Mamberti.
The church is namesake of the Porta Santo Spirito .
literature
- Anton Henze: Art Guide Rome. Reclam, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-15-010402-5 , pp. 266-268.
- Roma. Guida d'Italia. 3. Edition. Anna Ferrri-Bravo, Milan 2007, ISBN 88-365-4134-8 , pp. 598-602.
- Maria Lucia Amoroso: Il Complesso Monumentale di Santo Spirito in Saxia. Corsia Sistina, Palazzo del Commendatore. Rome 2003.
Web links
- Ingeborg Walther: The legend of the founding of Santo Spirito in Rome and the problem of child murder
- Il complesso di Santo Spirito in Saxia
Individual evidence
- ↑ Domenico Benoci: Defensores fidei: The role of the scholae peregrinorum in the epigraphic and documented sources. In: Stefan Heid (ed.): Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history . tape 114 , 2019, pp. 43-55 .
- ^ Vasari: Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors, and architects. Vol. 1. London 1850. p. 50. [1]
- ↑ Gisela Drossbach: Pope Innocent III. In the historical self-image of the hospital order of Santo Spirto in Sassia. In: Gert Melville u. a .: The mendicant orders under construction . Contributions to processes of institutionalization in medieval religiosity (Vita regularis, vol. 11), Münster 1999. p. 605
- ↑ quoted from Amoroso Roma 2003. p. 6
- ↑ Banco di Santo Spirito, 1605–1992 (PDF; 26 kB)
- ↑ Roma 2007, p. 602
- ↑ Roma. Milano 2006. p. 602
- ↑ Amoroso 2003. p. 20
- ↑ http://www.accademia-lancisiana.it/giovanni_maria_lancisi.htm
Coordinates: 41 ° 54 ′ 4.2 " N , 12 ° 27 ′ 40.3" E