Santa Caterina dei Funari
Santa Caterina dei Funari | |
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Roman Catholic | |
Architecture | |
Architectural type | Church |
Santa Caterina dei Funari is a church in Rome in Italy, in the rione of Sant'Angelo. The church is mainly known for its façade and its interior with frescoes and paintings.
History
The church is located where the Castro Aureo of the Circus Flaminius was located, built by Gaius Flaminius in 221 B.C. Prior to the 13th century, the seats of the surrounding semi-ruined amphitheater were used to dry the wares produced by the string- and rope-makers (funari), hence, the name of the church. Originally a small church dedicated to Santa Rosa di Viterbo was adjacent. The original church was a three-naved basilica, called "Santa Maria Dominae Rosae in Castro Aureo",[1] named for the first time in 1192 in a document of Pope Celestine III.[2] It was rebuilt in the 9th century with a single nave and dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria and later also called Santa Caterina dei Funari.
In 1534
The adjoining convent was demolished in 1940 and never rebuilt.[2]
Façade
The
The upper section or storey consists of three bays flanked by a volute on each side. The middle bay is filled by a rose window within a quadrilateral frame with a rose in each corner. Above the rose window stands the escutcheon of the Cesi family flanked by ornamental ribbons. The remaining two other bays each contain once more an empty hemispherical niche, above each a framed rectangular panel. The spaces between the capitals and below the pediment are filled by four ornamented oval cartouches.
The façade is surmounted by a triangular pediment with four acroteria in the form of identical vases and in the middle an iron cross.
This façade would become a model for the design of the façade of the
The façade bears the inscription FEDERIC CAESIVS EPISC CARDINALIS PORTVEN FECIT M.D.LXIIII (“Federico Cesi, Cardinal Bishop of Porto built 1564”).[4]
Interior
The groundplan of the church's interior has a single nave, defined by half-columns with Corinthian capitals along the walls, with a vaulted ceiling and lunettes in the upper part. There are three semi-circular chapels on each side. The austere interior contrasts with a wealth of decoration executed by important artists from the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
The altarpiece
The altarpiece in the third chapel on the left depicts the story of S. Giovanni" by Marcello Venusti.[6]
The altarpiece above the main altar shows a "Glory of St. Catherine" by Livio Agresti. In the apse Raffaellino da Reggio frescoed some monochrome friezes of putti and of Saints Romanus, Augustine, Sisinius and Saturninus, while several of the decorations in the sanctuary (scenes from the live of St. Catherine and a panel) are by Federico Zuccari.
References
- ^ a b c "Church of Santa Caterina de' Funari", Turismo Roma, Major Events, Sport, Tourism and Fashion Department
- ^ a b "Chiesa di Santa Caterina dei Funari", Religiana
- ^ Guida metodica di Roma e suoi contorni, by Giuseppe Melchiorri, Rome (1836); page 384.
- ^ Vincenzo Forcella, Iscrizioni delle chiese e d'altri edifici di Roma dal secolo Xl fino ai giorni nostri, Roma, IV, 1874, p. 334, n. 805.
- ^ Carignani, Silvia Ginzburg. Annibale Carracci a Roma, Roma, 2000, pp. 89-92.
- ^ Scannelli, Francesco. Il microcosmo della pittura, Cesena (1657); p. 186
Sources
- Barbara J. Sabatine, The church of Santa Caterina dei Funari and the Vergini miserabili of Rome, Ph; Diss., University of California, Los Angeles 1992.
- S. Caterina dei Funari, La storia del Monastero e della Chiesa, Rome, (booklet published by the Conservatorio di S. Caterina della Rosa).