Santo Stefano Rotondo

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S. Stefano Rotondo, north exterior view with the vestibule from 1140, painting by Ettore Roesler Franz , around 1880.

The Basilica minor Santo Stefano Rotondo , also Santo Stefano al Monte Celio , completely Basilica di Santo Stefano Rotondo al Celio , is a church in Rome on the Celio hill in the east of the old town in the 1st Rione Monti . It was consecrated between 468 and 483 and bears the patronage of St. Stephen . It is the title church of Friedrich Cardinal Wetter , the rectorate church of the parish of Santa Maria in Domnica and the national church of theHungarian Catholics . After Santo Stefano degli Ungheresi in the Vatican was demolished in 1776, it was also given a chapel for St. Stephen I, King of Hungary .

Previous buildings

The Caelius was a preferred residential area of ​​Rome during the Roman Empire. Via Caelimontana, today's Via di Santo Stefano Rotondo, connected the Porta Caelimontana in the old Servian wall with the Porta Praenestina, which was built in the 3rd century . The Castra Peregrinorum, built in the 2nd century, was a barracks for soldiers who were transferred to Rome from provincial regions and which was used until the 4th century. Around 180 AD, a mithra was built into the barracks , which was found during excavations under today's church. The Mithraeum was still in use after the barracks had been abandoned and was probably only abandoned and destroyed shortly before the church was built. These excavations can only be visited on request.

Due to the unusual shape of the church, there have been speculations in the past that the church goes back to an ancient round temple, such as a temple of Faunus or Emperor Claudius , but this has been refuted by archaeological studies.

Building history and description of the church

Over the leveled Castra Peregrinorum was in the middle of the 5th century under Pope Leo I (440-461) with the building of the church in honor of St. Stephen, probably caused by the rapid spread of the cult for this first Christian martyr , whose relics are said to have been found in Jerusalem in 415 . From the Liber Pontificalis it can be seen that the consecration took place under Pope Simplicius (468-483). In the Roman synodal acts of 499, S. Stefano in Caelio Monte is already mentioned as the titular church.

This perhaps the greatest building of late antiquity is a central structure built over three concentric circles with a total diameter of 65.80 m. The concentric circles with the inscribed Greek cross are typical of Eastern memorial buildings . It is noticeable that the cross shape can also be found in the windows in the outer wall and in the original roof design above the cross arms, and also as a sign on the strut plates of the columns in the outer corridor.

In the inner circle (approx. 23 m diameter) 22 granite columns with a continuous architrave support a 22 m high tambour . The two subsequent round walkways are separated by a column colonnade with arcades . Originally four cross arms extended from the outer ring. A special feature of the construction is the use of terracotta tubes in the vaults of the inner rooms and the drum. Because of the major transformations in church building over time, the distribution of space is now neither visible from the outside nor from the inside.

Between 590 and 596 Pope Gregory I founded a monastery near the church. Pope Hadrian I had the church restored during his tenure from 772 to 795. But it was almost destroyed in the turmoil of the 11th and 12th centuries. During the extensive renovation under Pope Innocent II (1130–1143), the church was reduced to the central space with the inner handling and the columns between the inner and outer handling were incorporated into the new outer wall and provided with round windows so that from the outer handling today only the two chapels and the vestibule are preserved; At the same time, an open vestibule with four granite columns was built on the north side . To secure the drum, the central room had to be divided by a supporting arcade with two granite columns and Corinthian spolia capitals in the middle.

In 1450 the church and monastery were given to the Hungarian mendicant order of the Paulines . Bernardo Rossellino from Florence renovated the church from 1450–1454 and created the high altar in the Renaissance style . The church's decline continued over the centuries that followed. In the middle of the 15th century, Flavio Biondo praised the marble columns, the incrustations of the walls and the work of the cosmats , but complained about the missing roof.

In 1579 the Collegium Hungaricum took over the church. In 1580 it was merged with the Collegium Germanicum to form the Pontificium Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum de Urbe , which maintains the church to this day. The new owners had the octagonal barriers that still exist today built around the central presbytery and decorate the entire church interior with painting cycles.

  • Santo Stefano Rotondo, exterior, today

  • Reconstruction of the central building from the 5th century

  • Reconstruction of the original floor plan

Interior

In the years 523 to 530 the rich interior decoration of the first church building was completed, in particular by cladding the walls and laying out the floors with colored marble slabs. In the central room, a long corridor with side bars was originally built in, which opened in a cross shape in front of the altar, which was identified during the recent restoration by means of remains found in the new flooring. In the entrance area of ​​the church there is today an antique marble seat with flower reliefs, which is said to have served Pope Gregory the Great as a bishop's seat; the signature on the footrest MAG (ister) JOH (annes) could come from a medieval master who reworked the seat.

In 1582 Niccolò Circignani and Matteo da Siena (Landscape Backgrounds) received from Pope Gregory XIII. the order to paint the inner walls of the deambulatorium with depictions of martyrdoms in 32 scenes. The scenes selected by the rector of the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum were intended to illustrate the legendary stories of the early Christian martyrs under the Roman emperors. They show in a drastic way the tortures and executions and their content is characterized by the Counter Reformation and a reassessment of martyrdom.

In 1778 a chapel was dedicated to St. Stephen of Hungary . It houses the tomb of Bernardino Cappella, created by Lorenzetto in 1524. In the same year the chapel was redesigned by Pietro Camporese (1726–1781). From then on it served as the Hungarian national church in Rome, as the original church had to give way to the new building of the sacristy of St. In 2006 the chapel was restored by an international team led by Zsuzsanna Wierdl.

There are other graves in the church. So was Archdeacon János Lászai, canons of Gyulafehérvár buried here in 1523; he had embarked on a successful career in Rome and made it to the papal confessor . His tomb is a good example of Renaissance sculpture . An inscription in the church attests to the burial of the Irish King Donnchad mac Briain, son of Brian Bóruma and King of Munster , who died in Rome in 1064.

The most recent research and the now completed first phase of restoration work confirm the extraordinary importance of this church building for the transition period from late antiquity to the Middle Ages . The results are exemplarily summarized in the German-language church guide Roma Sacra published by Elio de Rosa : Santo Stefano Rotondo , Itinerarium 34, Rome 2 2013, pp. 1–54.

  • inside view

  • 12th century supporting arcade in the central area

Chapel of Saints Primus and Felicianus

During his tenure (642–649), Pope Theodor I had the relics of Saints Primus and Felicianus, martyred around 286 under Emperor Diocletian, transferred from the catacomb of S. Alessandro on the Via Nomentana to S. Stefano. The relics should be better protected behind the city walls, but they should also be able to be venerated more dignified on the altars of the city churches. It was the first known transfer of relics to a Roman city church. On this occasion, the north-eastern cross arm of the central building was prepared as a chapel in honor of the martyrs Primus and Felicianus and the apse attached there was decorated with a mosaic . This mosaic, which dates from around 649, shows the triumphal cross adorned with precious stones , above it the bust of Christ in a round shield and on the upper edge the hand of God the Father with a wreath protruding from heaven. In front of a gold background, which merges into a symbolic Garden of Eden in the lower part , stand the two titular saints in tunica and chlamys , adorned with the purple tablion sewn onto the chlamys in the style of Byzantine dignitaries. The saints, identified by their names, hold a scroll in their right hand. The dedication inscription forms the lower end. Antonio Tempesta depicted the martyrdoms of the titular saints on the wall paintings of the chapel around 1580.

  • Apse mosaic in the chapel of the martyrs Primus and Felicianus , around 649

  • Primus martyred under Emperor Diocletian, mosaic around 649

Cardinal priest

literature

  • Tullia Carratù: “Santo Stefano Rotondo”, in: Elio de Rosa editore: Roma Sacra: Santo Stefano Rotondo , Itinerarium 34, Rome 2 2013, pp. 1-54.
  • Maria Andaloro: The Churches of Rome. A tour in pictures. Medieval Paintings in Rome 312-1431. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2008, pp. 319–323.
  • Maria Andaloro / Serena Romano: Roman Middle Ages. Art and culture in Rome from late antiquity to Giotto; Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2002, pp. 79f. and 83f.
  • Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum . Herder, Freiburg 2016, pp. 252–258.
  • Hugo Brandenburg : The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2013, pp. 216–233.
  • Hugo Brandenburg / József Pál: Santo Stefano Rotondo in Roma - archeology, building research, history. Reichert, Wiesbaden 2000, ISBN 3-89500-131-7 .
  • Hugo Brandenburg: The Church of S. Stefano Rotondo in Rome: building typology and architectural symbolism in late antique and early Greek architecture. Series: Hans Lietzmann lectures, 2nd ed. Christoph Markschies . de Gruyter, Berlin 1997.
  • Anton Henze : Art Guide Rome. Reclam, Stuttgart 1994 ISBN 3-15-010402-5 pp. 268f.
  • Fritz Bauer: Gisela , an (almost) forgotten blessed woman; and a plea for Santo Stefano Rotondo in Rome. A kaleidoscope. Association of Friends of Santo Stefano Rotondo, Munich 1989.
  • Walther Buchowiecki : Handbook of the Churches of Rome. The Roman sacred building in history and art from early Christian times to the present. Volume 3, Hollinek Vienna 1974, pp. 943ff.

Web links

Commons : Santo Stefano Rotondo  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Diocese of Rome, National Churches in Rome
  2. ^ Walther Buchowiecki: Handbuch der Kirchen Roms , III, S. 944f.
  3. ^ Hugo Brandenburg: The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century ; Regensburg 2013, p. 217.
  4. ↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum . Freiburg 2016, pp. 254f.
  5. ↑ Tullia Carratù: “Santo Stefano Rotondo”, in: Elio de Rosa editore: Roma Sacra: Santo Stefano Rotondo , Itinerarium 34, Rome 2 2013, p. 9f.
  6. ↑ Tullia Carratù: “Santo Stefano Rotondo”, in: Elio de Rosa editore: Roma Sacra: Santo Stefano Rotondo , Itinerarium 34, Rome 2 2013, pp. 28–54.
  7. ↑ SHEARJASHUB SPOONER: "A biographical and critical dictionary of painters, engravers, sculptors, and architects, from ancient to modern times; with the monograms, ciphers, and marks used by distinguished artists to certify their works". GP Putnam & Co., NY 1853: Matteo da Siena
  8. ^ Martyrdom scenes by Niccolò Circignani (wga.hu; English) accessed on April 26, 2013
  9. ↑ Tullia Carratù: “Santo Stefano Rotondo”, in: Elio de Rosa editore: Roma Sacra: Santo Stefano Rotondo , Itinerarium 34, Rome 2 2013, p. 23ff.
  10. ↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - A Vademecum . Freiburg 2016, p. 256ff. with wording and translation of the dedication inscription.

Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 4.5 "  N , 12 ° 29 ′ 48.3"  E